While Cleveland Cavaliers All-Star forward Kevin Love prepares for a new season with his teammates on the court, he continues to be a strong advocate for mental health awareness off of it.
To mark World Mental Health Day on Wednesday, Love donated a free subscription of the Headspace app to all of the student athletes and coaches at his alma mater UCLA. The app focuses on guided meditation and mindfulness.
In March, Love penned an op-ed for the Players' Tribune titled "Everyone Is Going Through Something," which chronicled his battle with depression. Love opened up about mental health, the stigma that plagues those who endure mental health issues and how he's learning to figure out how to manage himself.
"Everyone is going through something that we can't see," he wrote.
Love discussed a game back in November 2017, when he experienced a panic attack which forced him from the game. He admitted to being fearful that his teammates would find out, but the Cavs found him a therapist.
Since the article was published, Love has become a tireless advocate for mental health awareness. He started The Kevin Love Fund, inspiring people to live their healthiest lives while providing the tools to achieve physical and emotional well-being.
“I feel like I’ve found my life’s work, and that helps my mental well being, to know that I can help people,” Love told USA TODAY's For The Win. “I turned 30 and was like, ‘wow, I feel like I know what I’m going to do for the rest of my life.’ I know that after basketball, at the end of the day, I have this.”
Love's former Cavalier teammate LeBron James talked about World Mental Health Day and his admiration for Kevin on Wednesday.
On a personal note, Love's disclosure of his fight with mental health issues was an inspiration to me as I was putting together 'Coming Back to Life: My struggle with depression and anxiety,' that we published and put on Channel 3 in May. We had this project in the works for some time, but Love's courage helped motivate us all to finish the story and tell it the right way.
I'll always be grateful to him for that.