New Xavier Athletics partnership promoting mental health with uniform patch
The 1N5 partnership began with men’s soccer and carries a personal connection to a former Xavier employee.
CINCINNATI —
A new number appeared above Xavier men’s soccer players’ jersey numbers Tuesday night: 1N5. The team is among the first at Xavier to wear the patch, which will appear on game uniforms across the university’s intercollegiate athletic programs.
The patch represents a Cincinnati nonprofit focused on suicide prevention and mental health. Xavier’s men’s soccer team wore it during an “X Out Stigma” game held during Suicide Prevention Awareness Month.
A personal connection to Xavier
For 1N5 founder Nancy Eigel-Miller, seeing the organization’s name on a Xavier jersey is personal. Her husband, Jim, worked at the university. She lost him to suicide in 2008.
“It came as a total shock to us. He was loud and goofy, and everybody loved him,” Eigel-Miller said.
She founded the organization in 2010 after realizing how much she had not known about mental health.
“I was not very educated about mental health. There were signs. I just didn’t know what they were,” she said.
Today, 1N5 works in schools, communities and workplaces to make conversations about mental health more common and help people recognize when someone may be struggling. Eigel-Miller called the Xavier partnership “the largest awareness campaign that we could ever do.”
The agreement goes beyond the patch. Xavier and 1N5 say they plan mental wellness programming for student-athletes, education for coaches and athletic staff, and outreach to students and the broader community. The financial terms have not been released.
A message athletes can carry
Xavier women’s lacrosse player Carter Chambers said mental health can be difficult to discuss in athletics. An injury a couple of years ago showed her how closely an athlete’s identity can be tied to playing.
“When you have something that is like a sport and it’s so much of your identity, when you lose that identity … it makes you feel like you’re losing a part of yourself,” Chambers said.
She hopes the patch helps someone feel comfortable starting a conversation.
“If me wearing that on my sleeve changes someone’s life for the better, then that’s the best thing that I can do,” Chambers said.
Anyone who needs immediate emotional support can call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.