Alum Profile: Stephany Coakley ’88

This article originally appeared in the Winter 2022 Dana Hall Bulletin.

The trajectory of Stephany Coakley ’88’s life changed dramatically thanks to a Wannamaker Lecture Series speaker she encountered at Dana Hall. When Sonia Sanchez, a poet, activist and scholar from Philadelphia, stepped onto the Waldo Auditorium stage, Coakley noticed that while this woman was small in stature, she was very fierce and her words had power. “I had already applied to college and was headed to UNC because I loved basketball and Michael Jordan,” she joked. “Then [Sonia Sanchez] comes in and makes me change my whole plan. I was blown away by her lecture.”

Until then, Coakley had limited interactions with educators of color at Dana Hall, so this professor of English and Women’s Studies at Temple University — a leading figure in the Black Arts Movement who had written more than a dozen books of poetry as well as short stories, critical essays, plays and children’s books — was a breath of fresh air. Coakley decided then and there to apply to Temple, and she got in.

She knew early on she’d eventually get a Ph.D. in psychology, but Coakley went through a series of jobs and programs first, gaining experience with children, families and mental health in hospitals, community programs and in psychiatric emergency settings. Starting to feel burned out, she embarked on a different path to exercise and sport science with a concentration in sport psychology. After earning her doctorate, she worked for the U.S. Army as a master resilience trainer (MRT)/ performance expert, who provided sport and performance psychology for soldiers, families and other Department of Defense civilians, a job which also allowed Coakley to travel the world. She spent a decade in this line of work before going back to Temple to establish a program for student-athlete mental health and become the senior associate athletic director for Mental Health, Wellness and Performance.

With a pivot to performance psychology, Coakley began working with high-performing athletes and teams “who want to be better, but more so from the mental point of view,” she said. “They want to be more confident, more focused, more poised and ready to perform under pressure.” It’s less about correcting a problem, and more about giving athletes the tools to take their game to the next level, she said.

In March 2020, Coakley was in Fort Worth, Texas, with the Temple Men’s Basketball team when, suddenly, everything was canceled. She had senior athletes who went from preparing for the postseason to instantly being retired and having no say in the matter. She also had to immediately transition her services from in-person to virtual. “Because of what was happening, we couldn’t shut down, too,” Coakley said of her mental health services. “Other aspects of athletics, like tickets and marketing, could, but mental health still had to go.”

Not only was she helping her student-athletes through the instant loss of their seasons going away — some, like the seniors, forever — but she was supporting student-athletes and staff of color with the twin pandemic of social injustice that was coming to the forefront. “Racism has affected generations of people’s mental health for years,” said Coakley, who also stepped into the role as the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion lead in her department. “Issues of race and racism were being exposed across many layers of society, politics, the media, on the streets at demonstrations and protests across the country; we were witnessing it everywhere.”

Part of her desire to make a career out of supporting mental health came from her upbringing. “Being from the Bahamas, mental health has not been prioritized,” Coakley said. “Even if you were to mention it, people minimized your experience, which was problematic for me as a young person. I wanted to be able to help change that. I’ve always wanted to do this work.”

She now tries to be more anticipatory of what’s coming down the line, as laughable as that may be in the middle of a pandemic that’s heading into its third year. She says she’s doing more reading, talking to colleagues and — most importantly — listening. “There are many things you don’t have control over, and a sense of a lack of control has the potential to affect someone’s mental health,” Coakley said. “Control what you can.”

Stephany’s Tips for Maintaining a Healthy Balance

1. It starts with sleep. When we’re struggling, our biological needs are often interrupted — sleep being one of them. Make a concerted effort to get 7-9 hours of sleep at night. If that’s not possible, aim to get that much sleep in a 24-hour period. Naps can supplement nighttime sleep.
2. Proper nutrition is key. When we get busier, our stress levels increase, which triggers the production of cortisol. Cortisol is the body’s stress hormone that causes us to crave high-calorie foods, and makes it difficult to rid the body of fat. Set healthy, stress-resistant nutrition goals so that your body has the fuel that it needs to cope with the physical, mental and emotional demands of your life.
3. Do what brings you joy. When we get stressed, we stop doing the things we enjoy: we’re not reading for fun, listening to live music, not doing our self-care rituals like exercise, and not connecting with others. Make every effort to engage in activities that bring you joy and rejuvenate you.