The campus buzzed with energy as Philadelphia Eagles Right Tackle Lane Johnson ascended to the stage in Centennial Hall to speak with Haverford students about the importance of mental health and emotional well-being.
As this year’s annual Joseph T. Cox Servant Leadership Symposium speaker, Mr. Johnson leaned into two of the school’s core virtues: courage and compassion.
The symposium, established in 2010, is an annual event that features a presentation from “a transformational leader who shares his or her experience and wisdom” with the school community.
The intent of the symposium is to expose boys to different forms of leadership from various arenas of professional life, and to help students see the value of leading a “life as a thoughtful and engaged citizen of the world.”
Mr. Johnson was signed by the Eagles in 2013. For the past eleven seasons, he has been celebrated for his contributions to the team. His athletic resume is impressive: he was a first-round draft pick, a three-time Associated Press All-Pro player, and a four-time Pro Bowl player. And of course, he was a member of the team when they claimed the Super Bowl Championship in 2018.
However, as he described to students, his life has not been without adversity. He described his journey with mental health as challenging. In 2021 Johnson missed three consecutive games, at first citing a “personal matter” but later publicly revealing for the first time his struggles with anxiety.
Beginning in his senior year in high school, the pressure to perform began to take its toll. When he moved to junior college, a step on his path to playing Division I football at the University of Oklahoma, feelings of anxiety began to take hold. Johnson described feeling anxious, nervous, having a hard time eating and having a strong desire to avoid people. Eventually, with the support of a friend, he sought out help.
“I struggled a lot mentally,” Mr. Johnson revealed to the audience.
The juxtaposition of a man, who by all outward appearances meets the definition of strength and success, speaking vulnerably about needing help was powerful.
“For someone like him to get on stage and be real with us meant a lot,” Sixth Former and Student Body President Asa Winikur said in an NBC10 interview.
Mr. Johnson explained, “Help is always there. Having a friend circle and being around positive people [is important]. The company you keep is really important. The people you are around every day can have a huge impact on your mental health, so always be aware about who you are hanging around with.”
“Help is always there. Having a friend circle and being around positive people [is important]. The company you keep is really important. The people you are around every day can have a huge impact on your mental health, so always be aware about who you are hanging around with.”
Mr. Lane Johnson
“Everything he said gave me hope about how I can actively manage my own mental space in the future,” Fifth Form Class President and peer counselor Josh Williams said in an interview with NBC10.
Mr. Johnson’s assembly highlighted the importance of creating habits to support one’s emotional well-being.
“Plan your work and work your plan,” Mr. Johnson advised. “[Ask yourself] what are your goals, short term and long term, and how is your day-to-day reflecting that.”
“What I heard from Lane Johnson is that habits allow you to focus on controlling the things you can control,” Head of School Mr. Tyler Casertano said. “Anxiety comes from helplessness about future outcomes—habits help us control our physical health, which we know contributes to our mental health, and helps us pull focus away from what is outside of our control.”
Mr. Johnson’s message fits into a larger goal of the school administration this year: bringing the importance of mental health to the forefront of the school.
To achieve that goal, the administration is being very intentional with speakers and assembly topics.
“Our goal has been to create the habit of talking about emotional intelligence, relational health and psychological health. Part of the value of habit is that you practice, and through practice, you get better. We are normalizing talking honestly, personally and vulnerably about the things we are going through as human beings,” Mr. Casertano said. “Boys and men tend not to allow themselves to practice [vulnerability] as much as girls, and it holds back larger development.”
According to studies, adolescents are struggling with mental health issues. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates that 49.5 percent of adolescents have experienced issues like depression or anxiety at some point in their lives. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the problem. During this time of extreme isolation, a growing pattern, dubbed the “loneliness epidemic,” began to spread. The ubiquitous nature of social media doesn’t help.
Additionally, issues of mental health don’t seem to be something that boys move past easily. A study from JAMA Psychiatry found that 30.6 percent of men suffered from a period of depression in their lifetime, when measured by a gender-inclusive depression scale.
When asked what advice he would give his seventeen-year-old self, Mr. Johnson spoke to the social media issue, which is prominent worldwide.
“Don’t waste time with social media. Work on educating yourself on human anatomy and psychology and moving forward being detailed, regimented, and disciplined with your lifestyle and those efforts will lead into taking care of your mental health,” Mr. Johnson said.
More and more men, young and old alike, are getting the message that social media and excessive phone usage can have a negative impact on mental health.
The school implemented a new phone policy this year, not as a punishment, but rather to help students understand the importance of human-to-human interaction and connection. Students are now expected to place their phones into a phone cubby before class and can get them back once class is over. Phone use is not allowed in Academic Support Block, dining hall lines, hallways, or Centennial Hall.
The decision to curtail phone usage was based, in part, on surveys conducted with students last year. Students reported challenges in time management and connection with the community.
“Our job is to teach you all how to be conscious in your use of these phones, so that they are additive to your lives and not simply something that you have unconscious habits around,” Mr. Casertano said. “The [concern] is not just the phones themselves; social media can have destructive effects on the brain. One has to ask the question—what am I not doing when I am aimlessly scrolling?”
“Our job is to teach you all how to be conscious in your use of these phones, so that they are additive to your lives and not simply something that you have unconscious habits around.”
Mr. Tyler Casertano
The ability to connect to a community like Haverford’s is vital. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that school connectedness “is when students feel that adults and peers in school care about their learning as well as about them as individuals.”
“The sense of Brotherhood that you all feel provides you with the comfort and courage to be authentic and vulnerable,” Mr. Casertano said. “Through practicing that here, when you leave, you will be able to practice it with a larger group of people.”
These skills are not only applicable in the school’s tight-knit community.
“We’re not preparing you for a life of Brotherhood, rather the Brotherhood is a means to developing habits that you will then need in the dynamic lives that await you,” Mr. Casertano said.
One study from Pediatrics found that “…school connectedness may have long-lasting protective effects across multiple health outcomes related to mental health, violence, sexual behavior, and substance use. Increasing both family and school connectedness during adolescence has the potential to promote overall health in adulthood.”
Haverford has myriad resources to support the emotional health of students and help them connect with teachers and peers.
Haverford has myriad resources to support the emotional health of students and help them connect with teachers and peers.
Teachers are in their classrooms by 8 a.m. most mornings to allow students to stop in for academic assistance or just to talk. The school implemented Academic Support Block two years ago, another period in the school day where students can meet with teachers, get ahead on homework, or connect with the other members in the community. The Enrichment & Learning Center is available to all students for more formal academic support.
The Peer Counseling program has been a staple at the school for decades. Led by upperclassmen, Peer Counseling holds meetings twice a month to talk and support one another and their peers. The program teaches boys how to listen, share, and offer empathy. The primary goal: to let students know they are not alone. The space teaches students to let go of all judgment and barriers that boys so often build around themselves, and to open up in new ways to people, friends, or faculty that they trust deeply.
Then there are the school virtues, which are not just words carved into a wall, but are values that are constantly modeled throughout the school, by students, faculty and administration.
Mr. Johnson’s assembly is a perfect example. His talk and presence was the personification of courage and of what one can accomplish when they show compassion to themselves and others.
Mr. Johnson said, “I think it is all about the brotherhood. I have been fortunate to be involved with teams all my life and so [I know] we all have the ability to pick up people who are down or need help.”
“I think it is all about the brotherhood. I have been fortunate to be involved with teams all my life and so [I know] we all have the ability to pick up people who are down or need help.”
Mr. Lane Johnson
Mr. Johnson’s advice to students reinforced that talking about those pressures is key.
“Talk to a professional, write down what you are experiencing, [also] go to your parents, which is where I went,” Mr. Johnson said.
When asked what he would tell his seventeen-year-old self, Mr. Casterano also shared valuable advice.
“It is OK to be confused or unsure about the questions [the world] is asking of you. Things like: who do you want to be, what is important to you, what college do you want to go to, what might you want to do in life. There is a lot of pressure to be a seventeen-year old who has figured it all out, but it takes a lifetime to do that,” Mr. Casertano said. “Right now, asking the questions is more important than having the answers.”
The virtue of the year is courage. But the theme of this year is connection. Lane Johnson exemplified the fact that we all face challenges, we all face pressure. The goal is not to eliminate the pressure but to manage it in a healthy way, and to know you are never alone.
