Parents & CAREGIVERS
Empowering caregivers with practical tools and guidance to support young athletes, from strengthening relationships and navigating conflict to nurturing emotional growth and championing their overall well-being.
INITIATIVE COLLABORATOR
Generation Next Project
Change Your Course recognizes that strengthening mental performance in young athletes also requires engaging the caregivers and coaches who influence them. Its caregiver program uses the golfer-caddie relationship as a model: a great caddie walks alongside the player, offers perspective, reinforces confidence, and helps navigate difficult moments without taking over. Customized training equips caregivers and coaches to reinforce the same mental performance skills athletes learn while encouraging greater independence, resilience, and ownership. This connected approach supports both the player and the team, walking alongside them.
Initiative collaborators
Momentous Institute
Momentous Institute is a leading mental health organization advancing the people, practices, and systems that strengthen mental health for children, families, and communities. We turn innovative ideas into proven resources, helping make mental health an essential part of everyday life. Momentous Institute has trained and provided resources to more than 10,000 parents and caregivers, helping them cultivate their own mental health and support the mental health of those in their care.
INITIATIVE COLLABORATOR
NAMI Texas
NAMI Texas and its Affiliates equip caregivers and coaches with practical tools and educational frameworks to recognize and protect young athletes’ mental health. Through programs such as NAMI Basics, caregivers learn to navigate accommodations, respond to crises, and communicate effectively at home. Coaches and athletic staff can apply these skills within their porgrams to create more supportive environments for athletes.
INITIATIVE COLLABORATOR
Thinkbettergolf
Parents receive guidance on sport psychology best practices and effective ways to support their junior athletes. Teams and coaches also receive support in integrating sport psychology programming into their environments. Indicidual consultations help coaches navigate challenging situations with athletes and identify practical strategies from a sport psychology perspective.
INITIATIVE COLLABORATOR
The Defensive Line
The Defensive Line recognizes caregivers and coaches as some of the most influential protective factors in a young person’s life. Through its flagship D-LINES Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Education Program, the organization equips youth-serving adults to recognize warning signs, begin supportive conversations, reduce stigma, and connect young people with appropriate resources before a crisis occurs. Developed in partnership with Providence’s Work2BeWell initiative, D-LINES comvines evidence-informed content, culturally responsive practices, and practical intervention strategies to build stronger support netwroks where young people feel seen, supported, and safe asking for help.
INITIATIVE COLLABORATOR
The Mulligan Foundation
The Mulligan Foundation equips parents, caregivers, and coaches with practical tools to support golfers on and off the course. Through educational workshops, webinars, conversation guides, coach resources, and access to trusted mental health experts, the foundation helps adults understand the pressures young athletes face, recognize warning signs, and respond with confidence and empathy. Its programming promotes healthy communication, separates personal worth from performance, and helps create competitive environments where athletes can pursue excellence without losing their sense of identity. Rather than asking adults to become therapists, the foundation prepares them to be informed, approachable members of an athlete’s support system who know when and where to seek additional help.
INITIATIVE COLLABORATOR
Valiant Sports Society
Parents and caregivers are at the center of Valiant Sports Society’s mission. Through free education, expert conversations, practical resources, and advocacy, Valiant helps adults understand their influence on a young athlete’s emotional and physical well-being. Its content offers guidance on communication, confidence, pressure, anxiety, burnout, injury, identity, motivation, and maintaining joy in sport. Although coaches are not currently a primary audience, Valiant encourages them and other trusted adults to use and share resources that promote athlete well-being and healthier sports experiences. By equipping the adults surrounding young athletes, Valiant helps create more positive moments and fewer harmful ones through sports.