How Onrise Meets Every NCAA Mental Health Best Practice
Schools are legislatively required to meet the NCAA's Mental Health Best Practices. Onrise is purpose-built to satisfy all four requirements — in a single partnership.
📋 The NCAA Mental Health Best Practices (2nd Ed., updated 2024) are recognized in Association-wide legislation. Member schools are required by law to make mental health services consistent with these 4 best practices available to all student-athletes.
NCAA Best Practice 1
Create Healthy Environments That Support Mental Health & Promote Well-Being
What the NCAA Requires
Schools must have a written, multilevel mental health promotion plan developed with a licensed provider — addressing individual, team, department, campus, and societal factors — including diversity, equity & inclusion.
How Onrise Covers This
Retired collegiate and professional athletes normalize help-seeking and create a culture where mental health is talked about openly — at the team level, every day.
A dedicated line for coaches and staff to get real-time mental health consultation — directly supporting the NCAA requirement to train and support coaches as mental health promoters.
Evidence-based mental health literacy training for coaches, athletic trainers, and administrators — covering trauma-informed approaches, mental health first aid, and cultural sensitivity.
Mental performance coaching that builds resilience, identity, and psychological skills — supporting athlete well-being at the individual level throughout their career.
Registered dietitians addressing disordered eating — a key sub-clinical concern the NCAA identifies as part of healthy athletic environments.
NCAA Best Practice 2
Procedures for Identification of Student-Athletes with Mental Health Symptoms & Disorders
What the NCAA Requires
Schools must screen all student-athletes at least once annually using validated tools, in consultation with a licensed mental health provider. Staff must be trained to identify signs and symptoms.
How Onrise Covers This
Peer mentors — overseen by licensed clinicians — serve as the first point of contact, naturally surfacing athletes in distress who would never self-refer to traditional counseling.
Mental health literacy training teaches coaches and staff to recognize the signs and symptoms of anxiety, depression, and other conditions — satisfying the NCAA's staff identification requirement.
Licensed therapists conduct clinical evaluations and assessments, serving as the validated professional screening resource for athletes flagged by peers or staff.
NCAA Best Practice 3
Mental Health Action Plans that Outline Referral Pathways to Qualified Providers
What the NCAA Requires
Schools must have written, rehearsed action plans covering both routine and emergency mental health needs — with clear referral pathways from identification through treatment, follow-up, and reentry.
How Onrise Covers This
Around-the-clock crisis intervention with licensed counselors — directly fulfilling the NCAA emergency mental health action plan requirement for suicidal ideation, acute episodes, and overdose.
Onrise provides a fully defined stepped-care pathway: peer support → therapy → psychiatry → crisis — exactly the referral continuum the NCAA requires schools to have documented and rehearsed.
Licensed therapists handle ongoing treatment and follow-up, covering routine mental health care needs for student-athletes referred through any pathway.
Board-certified psychiatrists manage complex cases, medication, and reentry decisions — fulfilling the clinical oversight element of the NCAA's referral pathway requirements.
NCAA Best Practice 4
Licensure of Providers Who Oversee and Manage Student-Athlete Mental Health Care
What the NCAA Requires
Formal evaluation and treatment of student-athletes must be performed by licensed mental health providers acting within the scope of their clinical licensure — whether on-campus, off-campus, or via telehealth.
How Onrise Covers This
Onrise's network of licensed therapists — all with sports specialization — are available via telehealth in all 50 states, satisfying the licensure requirement regardless of school location.
Board-certified psychiatrists with deep sport experience provide medication management, diagnosis, and clinical oversight — the highest level of licensed care required by the NCAA.
All peer mentors are supervised by licensed clinicians — ensuring the entire Onrise model operates under clinical licensure, not as a standalone peer program.
Registered dietitians with sports credentials provide licensed care for disordered eating and nutritional health — an often-overlooked licensure gap in athletics departments.
One Partner. Complete Coverage.
Every Onrise service maps directly to an NCAA requirement.
Ready to Check Every Box?
Book a call and we'll walk you through exactly how Onrise covers your NCAA compliance requirements — and then some.