RADical Hope program brings wellness initiatives to Bentley University

While collegiate athletics are made great by the moments enjoyed on the field, the lessons learned off the field are just as important in shaping student-athletes and preparing them for life after university.

RADical Hope, an organization that focuses on well-being and positive mental health, is looking to be a key contributor in these athletes having sound pillars of wellness and being ready to take on the world following graduation. The program consists of four weeks of leadership training provided by peer guides within an athletic program to a larger body of student-athletes. It has already assisted numerous schools and will be partnering with Bentley University this fall.

The sessions will be led by a pilot group of 27 upperclassmen and delivered to a general group of 140 student-athletes. These participants will be split into cohorts of six to 15 people at a time, each guided by a dedicated junior or senior who is involved in a similar sport.

The initiative fits seamlessly into Bentley’s Flight Plan, a four-year program centered around encouraging career growth, leadership, community, finance and wellness. Grace Carter, who was hired as the university’s first manager for student-athlete development in June 2024, found out about RADical Hope through conversations with her counterparts at Amherst College.

“I reached out to them to learn a little more about it, then reached out to RADical Hope and had a couple of meetings,” Carter said. “One of the biggest barriers we run into in college athletics is money. This is a nonprofit and they give our peer mentors stipends to do what they are doing. This is a great opportunity to break down barriers between teams and have the older student-athletes who have been there and done that guide the younger ones.” 

There will be one meeting per week lasting just over an hour, consisting of various discussions revolving around stress management, decision-making, how to be an active listener and how to prioritize responsibilities. The gatherings will be engaging, inviting reflections among the athletes and promoting deeper discussions on how to handle certain life situations. There will also be team-building activities and inspirational interviews scattered throughout the program.

RADical Hope program coordinator Ryan Wesner visited Waltham a few weeks ago to host a two-hour interactive meeting with the student leaders to present the topics and demonstrate what a full week in the program would look like.

“This allowed the leaders to be the participants first and see what it would look like with me as the guide,” Wesner said. “After that, we debriefed and saw what they liked and what their thoughts were about the facilitation techniques that I used.”

The Falcons took right to the subject matter.

“This was a really great group,” Wesner said. “I really liked at the end how they explained their experience. They said how great it was to hear from each other about their stressors, knowing they are not alone in feeling stressed about their sport.” 

Carter has sat in on a few sessions so far and has been very impressed by what she has seen.

“We are already in Week 2 and I’d say that it has gone very well,” she said. “For any college kid, you are like, ‘I don’t know these people, why would I talk to them.’ But even by Week 2, the student-athletes are talking with people they probably never would have spoken with about stressors and identifying how you react to them.”

“They said they wished they had something like this when they were freshmen to have mentors in an upperclassman role offering their own advice,” Wesner went on. “It’s important to look at these juniors and seniors, who have had success at the school, and know that they are also experiencing all of the same anxiety and nerves about sports, academics and life in general. It is great to hear that they are not alone and it normalizes everything they are going through.”

Sometimes, the subject matter can get heavy. However, being a student-athlete exposed to so many different scenarios will prepare the Falcons to hold these conversations with confidence and be willing to share their stories.

“Student-athletes are much more prepared to talk about these sorts of things in a well-articulated manner because everything they go through in their sport makes them so mentally tough,” Wesner said. “They are very well-spoken and knowledgeable about these mental health topics. They know what they have to do to stay resilient. This just provides them with the space to talk about it even further and interact with other sports teams, which is really cool to see.”

Carter is excited to see the effect this program will have on the student-athletes.

“The whole idea of the program is about building resilience,” Carter said. “I would say so far, it has been great and I am excited to get the feedback at the end of the program. It ties in really well with our wellness pillar of how we can help student-athletes and prepare them to face adversity.”

CORRECTION AND UPDATE (Sept. 22, 8:10 p.m.). Ryan Wesner’s correct title is program director. A photo of the session with Bentley students was added, courtesy of Grace Carter.