LARAMIE – Born out of an unspeakable tragedy, the Hilinski Hope Foundation continues its consequential partnership with universities around the country to promote mental health education, awareness and stigma reduction for college athletes.
 
Wyoming's athletic department is among the schools participating in Student-Athlete Mental Health Week, which runs from Oct. 4-11.
 
Tyler Hilinski, who was projected to be Washington State's starting quarterback under Mike Leech, the late coaching legend from Cody, committed suicide on Jan. 16, 2018, at the age of 21. His parents, Mark and Kym Hilinski, started their foundation later that year.
 
"I think it's a fantastic program and a fantastic foundation to be a part of," said Tedder Easton, UW's Director of Student-Athlete Well-Being. "Hopefully, as long as I'm here, and whoever takes on after me if I ever leave, we will continue that partnership because it's such an important thing.
 
"What we've been doing around the facility this week is continuing to break the stigma down. It's pretty cool to have a week dedicated to it."
 
UW soccer players were allowed to wear green ribbons, hair ties and face tattoos – green ribbons commonly symbolize support and awareness for mental health – during the home game against Air Force Thursday at the Madrid Sports Complex.
 
During warmups before their big match against Boise State at noon Saturday in the UniWyo Sports Complex, the Cowgirl volleyball players will be wearing t-shirts with the words "Mental Health Matters" on the back.
 
During the Cowboy football game against San Jose State on Saturday at War Memorial Stadium (5 p.m., CBS Sports Network), athletic trainers, coaches, strength coaches and support staff, support staff will wear pins and bracelets in support of Student-Athlete Mental Health Week.
 
A public service announcement from the Hilinski Hope Foundation will also be shown on the scoreboard.
 
"We found some games this week to wear the gear and get the word out about student-athlete mental health and awareness," said Easton, who played running back for the Pokes.
 
On Monday night, Tedder and assistant director of student-athlete well-being Chrislyn Cool, taught the second section of their mental health 101 program with all of the non-football freshmen athletes. The freshmen football players went through the exercise during the summer.
 
On Tuesday afternoon, UW student-athletes had a chance to spend time with a herd of therapy goats outside the High Altitude Performance Center. That night they gave a talk about finding an identity outside of sport and life after sport.
 
"It comes very quickly and we don't really think about it until right before it happens, so we're trying to get information out and educate athletes about that sooner rather than later," Easton said.
 
To learn more about the Hilinski Hope Foundation and Student-Athlete Mental Health Week visit: https://www.hilinskishope.org/