Unmind and MLB team up to drive cultural change in baseball and beyond
Naomi Lucking
19 April 2024
Content
- About
- Problem
- Solution
- Outcome
Stats
- HQ: New York, USA
- Industry: Sports
- Company size: 1,000 - 5000 employees
- Products: Unmind for Leaders
About
With a rich history and a focus on community engagement, MLB continues to be one of the most prominent organizations in the world of sports. Comprising 30 member clubs, MLB's mission is to strengthen, support, and enhance the communities in which they operate, while promoting the game of baseball and raising money for charity.
To prioritize the mental health and wellbeing of their employees, MLB has partnered with Unmind, a leading workplace mental health and wellbeing platform. At Unmind we aim to create mentally healthy workplaces where employees can thrive by offering accessible therapy and coaching, advanced wellbeing tools, and evidence-based content. This partnership reflects MLB's commitment to supporting the holistic wellbeing of its workforce and creating a positive work environment for all employees.
Problem
Mental health challenges within Major League Baseball (MLB) have traditionally been overlooked or stigmatized, creating a need for more proactive mental health support. While MLB already had resources like in-house psychologists and employee assistance programs (EAPs), these weren’t enough to meet the evolving demands of players and staff. Frequent travel, a demanding game schedule, and the pressures of high performance required a more personalized and accessible approach to mental health.
“Even if you don’t have a diagnosed condition or you’re receiving treatment for something, general wellbeing is something that can help employees and baseball players alike. Going forward, we’re hopeful that by putting a greater focus on mental wellbeing, we’ll have a more positive and psychologically safe workplace environment where we can really see playing personnel and non-playing personnel thrive and grow.”
Solution
To address this need, MLB partnered with Unmind, becoming the first elite baseball league to provide mental health tools that are accessible to more than 1,300 corporate staff, 7,000 umpires, and Minor League players. The Unmind platform offers proactive tools for managing and improving mental health and wellbeing, allowing individuals to measure their levels of happiness, sleep, calmness, and more. The platform integrates easily with MLB’s existing resources, offering bite-sized content and self-guided programs that can be accessed at any time, from anywhere.
Jon Coyles explained the decision:
“That was a real top priority for us as we went through this exercise. Unmind does a really good job of making it so you can specifically tailor it to your own needs and what you’re looking to get out of this.”
Matt Jackson, Unmind's GM & VP Americas, further added:
“It’s all science-backed and scientifically validated, but it delivers content across the core measures of mental wellbeing in an accessible and destigmatized way. An individual can measure their levels of happiness, calmness, coping, sleep, health, connection, fulfillment, and access content from bite-sized videos, exercises, and micro-learning programs all centered around cognitive behavioral therapy, positive psychology, behavioral science, and mindfulness.”
Outcome
By partnering with Unmind, MLB is reducing the stigma surrounding mental health and promoting a more positive and supportive workplace. The platform’s accessibility ensures that every player, umpire, and staff member can take control of their mental health on their own terms, contributing to overall wellbeing. More importantly, this partnership is pushing for cultural change within the league and the broader world of elite sports.
As Matt Jackson emphasized:
“What we can do together with MLB is promote mental health awareness and support and provide that ongoing education training to players, employees, and management leadership.”
Unmind and MLB are setting a new standard for how professional sports organizations approach mental health and wellbeing, both for athletes and for corporate staff. By taking this step, MLB is joining other elite sports teams, like the NBA’s Orlando Magic and the English Premier League’s Wolverhampton Wanderers, in leading the charge for better mental health in sports.