The Atlanta Hawks recently hosted a mental wellness panel with star guard Trae Young and Chloe “Chlöe” Bailey.
The discussion comes days before the Hawks’ “Silence the Shame” night on March 20 against the New Orleans Pelicans to highlight mental health awareness.
“Even as athletes or entertainers, we all go through it,” Young said during the virtual panel. “I think it’s very important to always talk about it.”
The panel was hosted by Atlanta mental health advocate Shanti Das, who began the discussion by asking Bailey and Young their thoughts on social media.
“Social media is like a blessing and a curse,” Bailey said. “Online is how my sister and I got started because of YouTube and everything. From an early age, I learned how to deal with negativity and all the comments. We’re all human. Of course, when you’re scrolling, you’ll see all these incredible things people are saying about you and there’s always that one s—y thing where you’re like, ‘Oh, what if this is true? This is how I’m looking at myself now.’
“You start getting in your head. I remember early on telling myself, so maybe I should change myself a little bit to appease people? But it’s like at the end of the day, you’re not appeasing yourself.”
Bailey admitted “words do hurt” and the words of people from social media have caused a lot of the issues society sees today.
“It’s also challenging our mental health, and any insecurities that we have, it amplifies it times a thousand,” Bailey said. “I feel like it’s important to have a support system around us outside of social media to confide in, so we can take mental-health breaks from that world.”
The artist said she hasn’t gotten a therapist yet, as she vents her emotions to her godmother and her music.
Young said he keeps a small circle and stays around family, and playing basketball is “two to three” hours away from reality.
Das then asked Young about his daily “Another Day, Another Opportunity” tweets.
“I use that and post that every day not only as a reminder to myself, but a reminder to everybody,” Young said. “I use it as a reminder to myself that every day it’s an opportunity to get better something. Whether it’s being a better big brother or being a better teammate. I’m always trying to get better at something. I always wake up with that mindset and try to remind people every day that we can be better each and every single day at something.”
It’s been a busy couple of weeks for the Hawks organization, with the team recently collaborating with the “85 South Show” on a merchandise deal and released NFTs featuring team mascot Harry the Hawk.
