Giving Compass' Take:

• John Affleck at The Conversation argues how important it is that more athletes are openly talking about mental health because it is the first way to reduce stigma. 

• What are philanthropists doing to address treatment for mental health illness in the broader context of global health? 

• Here's another example of the importance of athlete activism. 

The great basketball writer Jackie MacMullan recently stood at the front of a hotel ballroom in Tampa taking questions after collecting a career achievement award from the Association for Women in Sports Media.

I was in the audience that day. Initially, the questions focused on her early days in basketball as a reporter. But then someone brought up a series of stories MacMullan had written for ESPN last summer on NBA players’ mental health problems. MacMullan called it “probably the most important thing I’ve ever done,” and a nearly 10-minute discussion followed.

The package featured All-Stars Kevin Love and Paul Pierce, among others, discussing their struggles with depression and anxiety. Other big names backed out at the last minute, concerned about the stigma of mental illness and whether it might hurt their ability to land a good contract in free agency, a point MacMullan emphasized when we spoke after the session ended. She said a league source called the problem “rampant.”

Read the full article about athletes and mental health by John Affleck at The Conversation.