SE: Anne Weese, Ph.D., Well Prepared to Lead New Role as Director of Mental Wellness/Sport Psychology at K-State Athletics
Jun 01, 2018 | Sports Extra, Athletics, Evans Student-Athlete Success Program
By Corbin McGuire
When K-State Athletics hired Anne Weese as its Director of Mental Wellness/Sport Psychology, it not only reinforced its commitment to Wildcat student-athletes' mental health. It also tabbed a person uniquely qualified for the position.
Weese, a licensed clinical psychologist, represents a change in the position's role, from primarily sport performance to mental health care. It's a shift she's enthusiastic to lead.
"It directly reflects on the administration's view. It reflects them getting out of this really binary view of these young men or women as students or athletes, and respects their needs from a humanness level, respects that they are human with mental and emotional needs," she said. "They're not just athletes for us and they're not just students, but they're a person, and I think that's a pretty impressive view of sports and of athletes these days.
"There are proven concerns about athletes with mental health and mental illness. Athletes, because they are athletes, are not immune to depression and are not immune to anxiety," Weese continued. "In fact, what we're seeing is they might even feel greater pressure than their peers, that they might even feel like they might have to internalize more of that and handle it alone for a variety of reasons."
Weese said, referring to recent studies, anywhere from 30 to 50 percent of student-athletes are reporting significant issues with depression and anxiety. She added that one study found that 10 percent of the student-athletes within its research reached out for services compared to 30 percent at the same institution's general college population.
"So there are as much or more need (for mental health services) but less access," she said. "So if I can come in and the culture of the department can shift to try to de-stigmatize coming to see me, asking for help, that would be the greatest thing we could do for these student-athletes."
Because of her journey, Weese understands the pressures and challenges student-athletes face better than most. She's been a student-athlete near and far from home, a Division I coach at a Power Five school and a counselor at multiple universities.
"I think my past is pretty unique," she said.
A native of the Salina area, Weese's past includes playing two years of basketball at Seward County Community College, before transferring to Notre Dame and walking on for its powerhouse program.
Sure, Weese did not play much for the Fighting Irish, which, within her family, earned her the nickname "Ruby," a play on the movie "Rudy." Sports Illustrated even included a blurb about her that said her "GPA (3.43) is higher than her point (0.8), rebounds (0.3) and assist (0.3) averages combined. But she's among the school's most popular athletes."
Regardless, the experience was one of a kind and gave her insight into some of the challenges many student-athletes encounter.
"I think I have personally experienced a lot of transition issues that the athletes face when they play in college," she said, also emphasizing the importance of not assuming her experiences are the same as current student-athletes. "While I can bring in this basic understanding and knowledge of what they might be going through, it's important for me to also not be projecting any of that onto them and to be open to hearing what their experience is like."
Notre Dame also connected Weese to her life after basketball.
She stepped onto its campus in Indiana as a pre-med student. Then she failed a chemistry exam, prompting her to change course to psychology — a field of science that seemed to click with her immediately.
"I loved the abnormal psych class I was taking, and our professor was really great at, in a really open and transparent way, showing us what her day-to-day life was like — What it was like for her to build relationships with clients, what it as like for her to tackle complicated mental illness issues," Weese said. "That really spoke to me at that moment."
Weese also pointed out that her mother, Mary, taught her psychology class at Sacred Heart High School. Even before that, Weese said her mother instilled the subject into her children at a young age.
One instance Weese remembered "vividly" is when her family pulled up to an intersection that used to have a stop sign and her mother still stopped at it, before laughing and reminding her children, "That's classical conditioning."
"Words that nobody really understands but she got that we were conditioned to stop there," Weese said, "and that's a psychological concept."
When Weese finished her playing eligibility at Notre Dame, she was not certain on what she wanted to do next. But she knew she wasn't ready to be done with sports.
Thankfully Jim Littell, the current women's basketball head coach at Oklahoma State who was at Seward County Community College when Weese played there, offered Weese a spot on the Cowgirls' staff when he took the associate head coach position in 2005.
While coaching and gaining a different perspective from the sideline, Weese also began her master's degree in counseling. This led to her pursuing her doctorate of philosophy in counseling psychology at Oklahoma State.
Ultimately, the grind of being a Division I coach and trying to carry a client caseload became too much to juggle. So Weese chose to say a difficult goodbye to coaching.
"That was a really pivotal moment for me because that was the first time in my life I had no official connection to sports and it was really, really sad," she said. "It took me about a year before I could go back and watch a basketball game, comfortably. That was a really defining time."
By stepping away from the court, however, Weese discovered her way back into athletics through her career as a licensed clinical psychologist. This revelation took place at her first "real job" as a staff counselor at Virginia Tech, where she spent half her time with traditional students and the other half working with student-athletes.
"That was my first opportunity that I had to really officially merge my two loves of sports and psychology," she said. "I got to really see what life would look like as a person employed in an athletic department working with their athletes."
Before her three-plus years at Virginia Tech (2013-16), Weese spent two years on K-State's campus as an intern and a postdoctoral fellow. Following her stint in Virginia Tech, she spent about two years on Oklahoma State's campus as a senior clinical counselor. Her return to Stillwater was Weese's final stop before the opening at K-State Athletics presented itself when Ian Connole stepped away to pursue other professional opportunities.
For Weese, it felt and still feels like the perfect fit, a culmination of her two passions in life.
"It just feels like I'm back with my people. The culture of an athletic department and of a Division I, competitive sports arena, it's hard to describe but it feels like home to me. I wake up every day saying I can't wait to go to work," said Weese, who plans to work toward her sport psychology certificate. "I just love it. I love what I do. I love building relationships with these athletes. There's just an energy in athletic departments that you can't find in other places. It feels great."
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When K-State Athletics hired Anne Weese as its Director of Mental Wellness/Sport Psychology, it not only reinforced its commitment to Wildcat student-athletes' mental health. It also tabbed a person uniquely qualified for the position.
Weese, a licensed clinical psychologist, represents a change in the position's role, from primarily sport performance to mental health care. It's a shift she's enthusiastic to lead.
"It directly reflects on the administration's view. It reflects them getting out of this really binary view of these young men or women as students or athletes, and respects their needs from a humanness level, respects that they are human with mental and emotional needs," she said. "They're not just athletes for us and they're not just students, but they're a person, and I think that's a pretty impressive view of sports and of athletes these days.
"There are proven concerns about athletes with mental health and mental illness. Athletes, because they are athletes, are not immune to depression and are not immune to anxiety," Weese continued. "In fact, what we're seeing is they might even feel greater pressure than their peers, that they might even feel like they might have to internalize more of that and handle it alone for a variety of reasons."
Weese said, referring to recent studies, anywhere from 30 to 50 percent of student-athletes are reporting significant issues with depression and anxiety. She added that one study found that 10 percent of the student-athletes within its research reached out for services compared to 30 percent at the same institution's general college population.
"So there are as much or more need (for mental health services) but less access," she said. "So if I can come in and the culture of the department can shift to try to de-stigmatize coming to see me, asking for help, that would be the greatest thing we could do for these student-athletes."
Because of her journey, Weese understands the pressures and challenges student-athletes face better than most. She's been a student-athlete near and far from home, a Division I coach at a Power Five school and a counselor at multiple universities.
"I think my past is pretty unique," she said.
A native of the Salina area, Weese's past includes playing two years of basketball at Seward County Community College, before transferring to Notre Dame and walking on for its powerhouse program.
Sure, Weese did not play much for the Fighting Irish, which, within her family, earned her the nickname "Ruby," a play on the movie "Rudy." Sports Illustrated even included a blurb about her that said her "GPA (3.43) is higher than her point (0.8), rebounds (0.3) and assist (0.3) averages combined. But she's among the school's most popular athletes."
Regardless, the experience was one of a kind and gave her insight into some of the challenges many student-athletes encounter.
"I think I have personally experienced a lot of transition issues that the athletes face when they play in college," she said, also emphasizing the importance of not assuming her experiences are the same as current student-athletes. "While I can bring in this basic understanding and knowledge of what they might be going through, it's important for me to also not be projecting any of that onto them and to be open to hearing what their experience is like."
Notre Dame also connected Weese to her life after basketball.
She stepped onto its campus in Indiana as a pre-med student. Then she failed a chemistry exam, prompting her to change course to psychology — a field of science that seemed to click with her immediately.
"I loved the abnormal psych class I was taking, and our professor was really great at, in a really open and transparent way, showing us what her day-to-day life was like — What it was like for her to build relationships with clients, what it as like for her to tackle complicated mental illness issues," Weese said. "That really spoke to me at that moment."
Weese also pointed out that her mother, Mary, taught her psychology class at Sacred Heart High School. Even before that, Weese said her mother instilled the subject into her children at a young age.
One instance Weese remembered "vividly" is when her family pulled up to an intersection that used to have a stop sign and her mother still stopped at it, before laughing and reminding her children, "That's classical conditioning."
"Words that nobody really understands but she got that we were conditioned to stop there," Weese said, "and that's a psychological concept."
When Weese finished her playing eligibility at Notre Dame, she was not certain on what she wanted to do next. But she knew she wasn't ready to be done with sports.
Thankfully Jim Littell, the current women's basketball head coach at Oklahoma State who was at Seward County Community College when Weese played there, offered Weese a spot on the Cowgirls' staff when he took the associate head coach position in 2005.
While coaching and gaining a different perspective from the sideline, Weese also began her master's degree in counseling. This led to her pursuing her doctorate of philosophy in counseling psychology at Oklahoma State.
Ultimately, the grind of being a Division I coach and trying to carry a client caseload became too much to juggle. So Weese chose to say a difficult goodbye to coaching.
"That was a really pivotal moment for me because that was the first time in my life I had no official connection to sports and it was really, really sad," she said. "It took me about a year before I could go back and watch a basketball game, comfortably. That was a really defining time."
By stepping away from the court, however, Weese discovered her way back into athletics through her career as a licensed clinical psychologist. This revelation took place at her first "real job" as a staff counselor at Virginia Tech, where she spent half her time with traditional students and the other half working with student-athletes.
"That was my first opportunity that I had to really officially merge my two loves of sports and psychology," she said. "I got to really see what life would look like as a person employed in an athletic department working with their athletes."
Before her three-plus years at Virginia Tech (2013-16), Weese spent two years on K-State's campus as an intern and a postdoctoral fellow. Following her stint in Virginia Tech, she spent about two years on Oklahoma State's campus as a senior clinical counselor. Her return to Stillwater was Weese's final stop before the opening at K-State Athletics presented itself when Ian Connole stepped away to pursue other professional opportunities.
For Weese, it felt and still feels like the perfect fit, a culmination of her two passions in life.
"It just feels like I'm back with my people. The culture of an athletic department and of a Division I, competitive sports arena, it's hard to describe but it feels like home to me. I wake up every day saying I can't wait to go to work," said Weese, who plans to work toward her sport psychology certificate. "I just love it. I love what I do. I love building relationships with these athletes. There's just an energy in athletic departments that you can't find in other places. It feels great."
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