Photo of attendees at Special Olympics

HDI Promotes Health and Wellness at the Special Olympics Kentucky State Basketball Tournament: The Healthy Athletes Event

HDI’s Elaine Eisenbaum, Lindsey Mullis, and Anna Fuller promoted good health with friends at the Special Olympics Kentucky State Basketball tournament—the Healthy Athletes event! Lindsey and Megan are the Kentucky Clinical Directors for the Health Promotion discipline, and Elaine is the Kentucky Clinical Director for the Strong Minds discipline. Strong Minds is a newly added Healthy Athletes discipline and this is the first time it was hosted in Kentucky! Strong Minds focuses on emotional wellness and developing strategies for coping with stress.

Athletes learn about and try different active coping strategies. This is important because we know that there are high rates of co-occurring mental health disabilities among people with intellectual disabilities. The Health Promotion discipline educates athletes on healthy living and healthy lifestyle choices, and also provides screenings for BMI, blood pressure, and bone density.