NFL Total Wellness

The mission of NFL Total Wellness is to build systems, create programs, provide resources, and encourage culture change to enhance the overall wellbeing of the NFL community in the areas of physical, emotional, spiritual, social, and financial health.

During the COVID-19 crisis, NFL Total Wellness has tips on managing social distancing at home — including links to helpful resources — and tips for staying healthy and connected while staying at home. Learn more.

OUR MODEL

NFL Total Wellness utilizes a proactive and holistic model focused on promoting wellness within the player community and expanding to include all members of the player ecosystem. The Total Wellness model employs four primary strategies: resource provision, education, robust support systems, and strong governance.

Nyaka NiiLampti, Vice President of Wellness and Clinical Services

Nyaka NiiLampti, Ph.D. is currently the Vice President of Wellness and Clinical Services for the National Football League. In her role, she is responsible for implementing and expanding the Total Wellness platform, ensuring a holistic approach to the care of players and members of the NFL family.

The goal of the Total Wellness platform includes overall wellness, family safety, healthy lifestyle development, and transition support through clinical resources, education and awareness efforts, peer-to-peer connections, research, and an overall proactive approach. Through a series of touchpoints, Dr. NiiLampti is charged with developing, managing, and promoting all aspects of this platform along a variety of internal and external stakeholders: active players and Legends, NFL club and League staff, player support systems, governing bodies, and the broader community.

Nyaka is a licensed psychologist with twenty years of clinical experience, and has worked extensively with organizations, sports teams, individuals, and families in a variety of settings, including community mental health, college counseling centers, and in private practice. She most recently served as the Director of Player Wellness for the NFL Players Association, where she focused on providing resources and educating players on all aspects of wellness and served as an advocate for players by ensuring their rights are protected under the NFL Drug Policies.

Before joining the NFLPA, Dr. NiiLampti was a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Psychology at Queens University of Charlotte, where she taught undergraduate courses in multiple areas and served as the Faculty Athletic Representative to the NCAA.

During that time, she also provided comprehensive services in private practice, focused primarily on athlete wellbeing and performance-related concerns as well as serving as a Treating Clinician for the NFL Program for Substances of Abuse and as an approved clinician for the NBA/NBPA Player Assistance/Anti-Drug Program. Her research interests focused on multiculturalism and mental health, particularly as those concepts relate to issues of resiliency and success, and she provided local and national trainings, workshops, and lectures on a variety of topics including aspects of cultural diversity and identity, athletes and mental health, and student-athlete transition.

A former track and field college student-athlete, Nyaka has a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University, an M.A. with a concentration in Sport Psychology from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and a Ph.D. from Temple University.

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Resource Provision

NFL Total Wellness provides resources to all members of the NFL family with three primary goals: to proactively foster wellbeing, to direct to clinical resources, and to manage crises. These goals are achieved primarily through the Cigna EAP (work/life resources), the NFL Life Line, the integration of the Team Clinicians, the internal crisis response team (CRT), among others.

Education

NFL Total Wellness provides education to every major stakeholder at every stage of the player life cycle. Educational sessions include the Rookie Success Program which prepares first-year players for life in the NFL, team Mental Health trainings which are CBA-mandated sessions on a variety of topics under the wellness umbrella, Legends Ambassadors trainings which empower former players to understand and support one another with regard to mental health, and many more.

Support Systems

NFL Total Wellness reinforces and collaborates with various player support systems to enhance the provision of services to all members of the NFL community. These efforts include direct management, consultations, education, and providing resources to support systems such as Team Clinicians, Directors of Player Engagement, and the Player Care Foundation.

Governance

NFL Total Wellness advises and interfaces with various governance structures to maximize the integration of a wellness perspective into policy development and implementation, while expanding these efforts to ensure that decisions incorporate the viewpoints of a diverse set of external experts.

Wellness Resources

NFL Total Wellness strives to provide resources that promote an evidence-based approach to wellness, as well as provides updates on the support offered throughout the NFL community. Learn more here.

Players & Legends

The mission of NFL Total Wellness is to build systems, create programs, provide resources, and encourage culture change to enhance the overall wellbeing of the NFL community in the areas of physical, emotional, spiritual, social, and financial health.

OUR MODEL

Resource Provision

Education

Support Systems

Governance

Wellness Resources

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NFL Total Wellness

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Players & Legends

The mission of NFL Total Wellness is to build systems, create programs, provide resources, and encourage culture change to enhance the overall wellbeing of the NFL community in the areas of physical, emotional, spiritual, social, and financial health.

OUR MODEL

Resource Provision

Education

Support Systems

Governance

Wellness Resources

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NFL Legends Community

NFL Legends Resources

NFL Player Engagement

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