Georgie-May Walker
A professional Logan basketballer fuelled by her experiences with anxiety started a mindset program to change the narrative for grassroots athletes suffering from mental health problems.
Mikhaela Cann is a current National Basketball League 1 (NBL1) North Thunder player and won the 2017-2018 Women’s National Basketball Association (WBNA) championship with Townsville Fire.
She also held a two-year scholarship with the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) and competed in the Australian Youth Olympics in 2010.
Cann recalled her anxiety hit rock bottom when she was distraught travelling to her basketball games.
“I was on my way to the stadium with my husband in the car, and I just get really quiet and just kind of shut off a little bit,” Cann said.
“I just broke down (crying) in the car.
“I couldn’t control it – I couldn’t understand what was happening.
“And he kind of got to the point where he was like, ‘You shouldn’t play today, we should just turn around and go home’.
“And I was like, ‘it’s my job,’ I like, I have to turn it (the anxiety) off.
“I won’t let people down.
“And that was one where it hit me in the face.
“It’s affecting me doing what I want to do, you know?”
Cann’s anxiety has also occurred moments before she gets on the court.
“I remember we were supposed to go out to start warming up, and I just hid in the bathroom because I didn’t know where I was.
“Like at that point, your body slowly takes over your mind, and it just took me a really long time to regain focus.
“There was a season it must have been probably four years ago, and I would be in that panic where I don’t even remember playing.
“I just remember getting home from the game, but I don’t remember what happened on the court.
“I watched the game after the match, and it wasn’t too bad as far as performance goes, but I just remember not being in control of my body or mind.”
Ironically, Cann said playing basketball or exercising helped her through her periods of anxiousness.
“Every time I start to feel panic, I would go for a run to help me reregulate.”
She said her husband and coaching staff have been a significant support in helping her overcome any tough times with her anxiety.
“I honestly just went to my husband, and we worked my anxiety out together.
“And so, I kind of just really started to open up with him, which I haven’t done before.
“But along with that, I also just started doing a lot of my own research.
“I tapped into different resources and people around me, and in professional sports, you are lucky to have access to people there to help you.
“One person that I really can confide in is my head coach, and he’s someone I’ve kind of turned to and kind of have a bit of a system with now that I can touch base with.”
Cann believed her anxiety had affected her life and other aspects of her mental health long before diagnosis.
“I found out I had anxiety, and then my life went crumble, crumble, crumble in different areas.
“So, one of them is I had a bad relationship with food for a little while.
“And in the back end of my Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) scholarship, which was back in 2012, I went through a point where I lost a bunch of weight.
Cann remembered doctors at the AIS being worried about her weight loss and suggested she might have an eating disorder, but she wasn’t concerned at the time.
“But then it got really bad when I got home, and I found out I had a bad anaemia disorder to the point where my body was eating away at the muscle.
“But now that I look back on it, I was just punishing myself through exercise and food.
“At that time, I didn’t think I had an issue with anything, and it was like, ‘no, I’m just an elite athlete’.”
“I didn’t realise at the time that was a byproduct of things that I’ve gone through and a coping mechanism for me to just kind of like make it through (the anxiety).
“It heavily impacted my life – it’s very much the athlete’s mindset.
“I think the one thing that made me feel better (from the anxiety) was playing basketball.”
Cann’s struggles with anxiety led her to start Assist Athlete Services, focusing on young players developing positive mental habits.
“Since I’ve started the business… I started practising all the stuff I’m teaching the kids, and that’s been the turning point for (my anxiety).
“Many kids are stuck in their comfort zone because they don’t want to mess up or fail.
“There’s a real big gap for athlete mental health unless you’re in the top 1% of players who are your professional kind of athletes.
“The overall goal is to teach kids a proactive approach to their mental health by learning skills they will need to know at some point in life, whether in sport, at school or in their long-term careers.
“And trying to provide services we never had access to growing up.
“There’s still not much support for young players, so that’s where we have the high dropout rate from sports.
“They now have a bit of a tool kit to navigate and at least start to work on things (like anxiety).
The program consists of training with coaches and an app to help track young athlete’s mental health.
“Often, we put you in a group or individual training session that suits you and your level, and then we’ll sign you up for our app, an online platform that helps you create positive habits.
“It helps you to self-reflect each day by identifying your feelings from the day.
“There are activities on there that try and teach athletes to think in specific ways that will be productive towards working on things yourself.
“So, from there, what we do is we monitor your input into that app throughout the week – so we can see what your goals are.
“We can see your daily reflections, performance, and wellness and provide feedback throughout the week.
“And then what we do is we use your input into the app, and we implement that into the training sessions and make sure we’re having conversations around your goals.
Although Cann plays basketball, the program is for all athletes and not exclusive to basketballers.
“We have numerous psychology-based programs.
“Psychologists are on board to help develop school programs and the curriculum.
“We’ve got a program called the Mental ED Program, which is basically like a ten-week program that allows you to attend a weekly workshop.
“We have coaching and parent education programs to ensure that the athlete (and their support system) receives the right information and training from all aspects.”
If you need help, talk to a GP or health professional, or contact Beyond Blue (1300 22 46 36), Headspace (1800 650 850) or in life-threatening situations, dial 000.