Ryan Cain is the President of The Hope Desk. His recovery journey led him to create a number organizations that provide mental health services for those in need. The Hope Desk has partnered with a number of universities to offer services to former student-athletes and their families. More information can be found here.
What we know about mental health needs for student-athletes is that getting help can change the course of their lives for the better. But we also know that transition periods are often the hardest. This is especially true since most, if not all, of a school’s student-athletes will not become professional athletes.
When they retire from sports, they will no longer be known as an athlete on campus. Most will start a new career, in a new city, and discover who they actually are now that their sports career is over. During this transition, they will not have the resources available to them that they had as a student-athlete although this point in life is when the need may be most necessary. The ability to stay connected to the place they called home for four years can literally be a lifesaver.
Hope Desk: A New Approach to Mental Health Services
In today’s world, mental health care is becoming increasingly essential, but many organizations struggle to meet the diverse needs of their members. Hope Desk was born to solve this problem. We offer a white-labeled concierge mental health service, designed to seamlessly integrate into an organization’s existing resources. Whether it’s mental health professionals on staff, HR policies, HIPAA guidelines, or employee assistance programs (EAP), Hope Desk provides another pathway for individuals to seek mental health care without the fear of stigma or exposure.
Our service addresses several truths about mental health:
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1. The stigma of asking for help: Even the best HR programs miss those who fear embarrassment, judgment, or repercussions. 2. A lack of understanding: Most people don’t know how or when to seek care, nor who the best person is for their specific situation. 3. Accessibility and affordability: Once care is recommended, the cost and availability of treatment can become barriers. |
Through Hope Desk, we have developed a less risky, more accessible pathway to mental health care. We provide access to thousands of vetted providers nationwide, offering a variety of mental health services with both cash-pay and insurance options.
Origins of a Mission: From Struggle to Purpose
The seeds for this mission were planted in 2012, when I hit rock bottom. I lost everything—custody of my children, my home, my car, my job, and my wife—because of addiction. For 17 years, I kept my struggles with drugs and alcohol a secret, even from those closest to me. Although I was able to patch a life together for those looking at a distance, when my life came crashing down, I had no choice but to change.
It wasn’t an easy road. People stepped in to help me with no expectations of repayment. They helped me shift from a life of selfishness, self-centeredness, and ego, to a life with purpose. Now, 12 years later, I remember those individuals every day. The best way I can repay their kindness is to pay it forward.
A life of purpose is what we all strive for, and the ability to have a purpose for my pain has created a full life for me and my family. My new life of purpose led me to help thousands of people by using my story of hope to guide them through their own struggles.
I became a certified interventionist and founded Music City Interventions, a company helping families navigate addiction crises. Over time, I also launched several other mental health companies: the Nashville Recovery Center, Tennessee Recovery Clinic, Nashville Detox Center, and N Rhythm Sober Living. These companies were eventually acquired in 2020, which led me to explore new ways to continue helping others.
The Creation of Hope Desk and the Pro Football Hall of Fame
After my companies were acquired, I turned my attention to media and other platforms, discussing mental health issues. This included appearances on the Today Show, articles in the New York Times, and even speaking on mental health panels at the United States Senate.
Around this time, the Pro Football Hall of Fame invited me to consult on mental health services for its members and their families. We developed a centralized concierge program to address issues such as depression, anxiety, substance use disorders, and more.
We built a network of over 6,000 mental health professionals across the United States and used it to provide Hall of Famers with expert guidance on their mental health needs. Since at the time there was only about 350 pro football hall of famers, and about 2000 members when you include families, we knew our provider network could and should be utilized by other institutions who also wanted to provide additional resources for mental health services to their members. It became clear that this network could serve a larger audience, and Hope Desk was born.
Partnering with Universities and Organizations
Early on, Temple University’s Dr. Stephany Coakley and her team were instrumental in implementing Hope Desk for a college athletics department. We began by offering additional care to student-athletes who needed a higher level of treatment beyond what was provided on campus. Whether they were on campus or at home during summer or winter breaks, Hope Desk was there.
Shortly afterward, Louisiana State University (LSU), led by Shelly Mullenix, became the first university in the country to provide this service to every student-athlete alumnus and their families, no matter when or what sport they played, through a program called Tiger Legacy Care.
Similarly, Michigan State University (MSU) launched their Alumni State of Mind program, supporting decades of Spartan athletes and their families through Hope Desk. These partnerships have allowed us to support former athletes with a wide range of mental health needs, from eating disorders to anxiety, depression, and even suicidal ideations.
Our services have now been utilized across the U.S., in Canada, and even Europe. Thanks to visionary partners like Stephany, Shelly, and Ashton Henderson at MSU, Hope Desk has helped countless individuals and their families navigate mental health challenges. This effort has proved that mental health care can continue long after an athlete’s college career has ended.
Lessons Learned and Looking Ahead
One of the early challenges we faced was learning how to keep mental health support top-of-mind for those who needed it. Our first weekend launching Tiger Legacy Care was at the Tennessee/LSU football game. We played an amazing mental health awareness video, branded as an LSU initiative, and we received 18 phone calls from alumni in the first week of the program.
We thought, we had figured it out. But after helping many with various solutions, from therapy to residential eating disorder care, the calls slowed down and eventually stopped coming at all.
This taught us the importance of consistent outreach, so we developed content calendars for alumni groups and other organizations to put timely mental health content into social media, blogs, and emails that can be shared with their members. Some of the bi-weekly topics are:
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The range of topics is intentionally large because we never know where or how or when someone is struggling. By keeping mental health top-of-mind, we ensure that people know help is always available when they need it.
Our goal over the next few years is to continue to grow into the alumni space, as well as expand Hope Desk into other sectors, including healthcare providers, the music and film industries, and various membership organizations. We aim to offer mental health support for all transition periods, as we know these are the times when individuals are most vulnerable. Just as someone was there for me in my darkest moments, Hope Desk is here to help others, making a real difference in people’s lives.
You can reach Ryan through email at ryan@fundrecovery.org, on LinkedIn, and Instagram: @ryancain00.