NBA Mental Health Awareness Month: Join the Squad

About Project

NBA Mind Health has a mission to engage, educate, and serve players, coaches, staff, front office personnel, referees, and fans by humanizing mental health and positioning it as essential to wellness, performance, and excellence, both on and off the court. During Mental Health Awareness Month (May 2024), our goal was to elevate the mental health conversation among NBA audiences nationwide. The campaign aimed to promote awareness of six approaches to enhance mental wellness: Move, Play, Pause, Learn, Connect, and Nourish.

Addressing mental health is challenging due to its serious and sensitive nature. Engaging the public in a way that is both informative and enjoyable required careful consideration.

We created an interactive personality quiz which matched basketball fans to a fictional team of animated personas, each representing one of the six mental health approaches. The Mind Health Squad included: Move - Dynamic Defender, Play - Playful Point Guard, Pause - Centered Center, Learn - Clever Coach, Connect - Trusty Teammate, and Nourish - Fueled Forward. This creative approach made the subject accessible and engaging.

The Campaign was featured on nationally televised ESPN/ABC and TNT playoff broadcasts, league social platforms, and in-arena large-format digital programming.