Mental Health of Athletes the Focus of 2021 Lecture Series
Atlanta, GA – On Wednesday, May 12, 2021, Skyland Trail hosted the 10th installment of the Dorothy C. Fuqua Lecture Series. The lecture, titled The Weight of Gold, spotlighted the mental health challenges that accompany competition for both high-performance, professional athletes and youth.
The free event, which was held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic, featured a review of the HBO documentary The Weight of Gold followed by a panel discussion including Sasha Cohen, an Olympic Medalist and World Champion figure skater who appears in the documentary; Brett Rapkin, the film’s director and producer; Kensa Gunter, Psy.D, CMPC, a licensed clinical and sports psychologist who consults with organizations and athletic personnel for adolescents and adults in metro-Atlanta; and Raymond J. Kotwicki, MD, MPH, DFAPA, Skyland Trail Charles B. West Chief Medical Officer. The discussion was moderated by Christie Diez, anchor and reporter for WXIA-TV 11 Alive and a 2021 Rosalynn Carter Fellow for Mental Health Journalism.
The goal of the annual Dorothy C. Fuqua Lecture Series is to amplify the voices of mental health experts and individuals with lived experience to highlight mental health as an issue of importance in Atlanta and across the country. The lecture series honors the late Dorothy Chapman Fuqua, former board member and benefactor of Skyland Trail, and is made possible by Duvall and Rex Fuqua and Edwina and Tom Johnson.