Frequently Asked Questions

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GCU helps institutions support the mental wellness of students connected to sports through community-centered, non-clinical resources.

Game Changers United™ exists so colleges, universities, and athletic departments can connect with a trusted partner for student-athlete mental wellness programming. The key word is wellness, not clinical mental health.

GCU does not try to replace therapists, counselors, or campus health services. Instead, we create spaces for open dialogue, community, spiritual growth, practical support, and real conversations about balancing life as a student connected to sports.

GCU serves both the students who need support and the institutions responsible for creating supportive environments.

GCU speaks directly to student-athletes, athletic trainers, managers, and future sports administrators by offering support, tools, and community.

At the same time, GCU works primarily with the people who bring programming to campus: athletic directors, coaches, campus administrators, counselors, student affairs teams, SAAC advisors, and student leadership groups.

The goal is to serve students while helping institutions build meaningful, year-round support.

The biggest misconception is that elite athletes automatically have it all together.

Student-athletes may be strong, disciplined, and high-performing, but they are still human. Life still happens to them.

They experience grief, family stress, financial pressure, academic strain, identity challenges, relationship struggles, and uncertainty about the future. The fact that someone can perform physically does not mean they are okay mentally, emotionally, or spiritually.

GCU helps campuses create space for students to decompress without feeling like they have to prove they are strong all the time.

Kenisha knows what it feels like to be a student connected to sports while carrying grief and pressure behind the scenes.

While in college, Kenisha was studying athletic training and working in athletics when her mother battled breast cancer and later passed away. She was trying to show up for sports responsibilities while also navigating grief, family responsibilities, and a life-changing loss.

At a time when she needed empathy, she experienced the pressure that often exists in sports environments: be present, keep going, do not miss practice, do not fall apart.

That experience shaped her mission. GCU was created so students connected to sports would have safe spaces, real support, and people who remember they are human first.

Because students are carrying more than most people see, and silence can become dangerous.

Across sports, we continue to see stories of athletes struggling deeply, and in some cases, losing their lives to suicide. These losses are painful reminders that conversations around mental wellness cannot be occasional or performative.

Students need to hear that they are not alone. They need adults and peers who are willing to talk about the realness of life, pressure, grief, fear, and identity.

The more transparent and relatable these conversations become, the more students can recognize that asking for help is not weakness. It is wisdom.

GCU combines lived experience, mental wellness, faith, identity work, leadership development, and sports career readiness.

Kenisha does not come to this work as an outsider. She brings a real story of grief, resilience, sports industry experience, and overcoming life-altering adversity.

GCU also addresses one of the biggest issues students face: identity. Not every athlete will play professionally, and for many, college is the end of their playing career. That transition can deeply affect mental wellness.

GCU helps students see that life beyond sports can still include purpose, leadership, and even a career in the sports industry through media, operations, administration, marketing, events, coaching, creative work, and more.

GCU’s impact shows up when students feel heard, supported, and reminded that they are not alone.

In one situation, a coach reached out because a women’s basketball student-athlete was struggling emotionally and expressing thoughts of not wanting to live. Kenisha was able to connect with the coach and then speak directly with the student, creating space for her to be heard and supported.

In another campus example, student leaders responded strongly to GCU’s mission and wanted to help build a safe, supportive space for their peers.

These moments reinforce why GCU exists: students want this kind of support, and some are ready to become leaders and advocates for it.

Publishing Note: Use anonymized case studies unless written permission is granted.

Faith is welcomed into the conversation, but it is not forced.

Spiritual growth is part of GCU’s mission. Kenisha speaks openly about faith because it played a major role in helping her survive grief, pressure, and life-altering loss.

At the same time, GCU is not designed to make students feel excluded or preached at. The goal is to create space where students who want to talk about faith can do so freely, while still offering practical tools, community, and support for every student in the room.

Faith is part of the conversation because for many students, purpose, hope, and healing are spiritual as well as emotional.

Make time to see students beyond performance.

Coaches and athletic departments do not have to solve everything, but they do need to create space for honest check-ins.

A student may be struggling with a sick family member, tuition stress, grief, fear, loneliness, or uncertainty about the future. Those realities affect performance, behavior, focus, and confidence.

One intentional hour a week can make a difference. Ask students how they are doing. Listen. Pay attention. Know when to connect them to the right resources. Supporting the human side of the student helps the athletic side too.

Make time to see students beyond performance.

Coaches and athletic departments do not have to solve everything, but they do need to create space for honest check-ins.

A student may be struggling with a sick family member, tuition stress, grief, fear, loneliness, or uncertainty about the future. Those realities affect performance, behavior, focus, and confidence.

One intentional hour a week can make a difference. Ask students how they are doing. Listen. Pay attention. Know when to connect them to the right resources. Supporting the human side of the student helps the athletic side too.

Consider GCU as a campus partner and resource for student-athlete mental wellness, leadership, and purpose-driven support.

If you are an athletic director, coach, administrator, counselor, SAAC advisor, student leader, or campus partner, GCU can help you strengthen the support already happening on your campus or introduce a new kind of conversation.

You can book a workshop, bring Kenisha to speak, host a virtual event, explore leadership training, attend the GCU Conference, or share GCU resources with someone who needs them.

The goal is simple: help students connected to sports feel seen, supported, and equipped to prosper in every area of life.