Child Mind Institute Addresses Youth Mental Health Crisis in the San Francisco Bay Area By Raising $373,000 at Annual Golf Tournament

Held on the first day of California’s Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week, former professional athletes and others rallied behind the rising number of Bay Area children in need of mental health services and support.

San Mateo, Calif. – The Child Mind Institute hosted its second annual charity golf tournament on Monday, May 1 at Stanford Golf Course in Palo Alto. 85 players, including Olympic Gold Medalist and FIFA Women’s World Cup champion Brandi Chastain and former NFL player and NFL Hall of Fame inductee Marcus Allen, showed up to support the Child Mind Institute’s critical mission of transforming the lives of children and families struggling with mental health and learning disorders.

Mark Ibanez, former longtime sports director for KTVU-TV, emceed the event and sat down for a rivetingly personal Q&A session with Drew Robinson, a former MLB player. Robinson openly discussed his own struggles with depression both as a boy and as a young man, including the period leading up to his suicide attempt, plus his mission now as a mental health advocate and as a key member of the San Francisco Giants’ mental health and wellness team.

Dr. Harold S. Koplewicz, president of the Child Mind Institute, spoke about the escalating youth mental health crisis and continuing need for greater mental health resources for the Bay Area’s children. Dr. Koplewicz detailed the “frighteningly significant increase in hospitalizations of children with suicidal or self-harming behavior,” in reference to an 11-year period from 2009–2019 in which youth suicide and self-harm rates nearly doubled. He also shared the Child Mind Institute’s new programs, including the Youth Mental Health Academy, a career development program for high school students from structurally marginalized communities intended to foster interest in future careers as mental health practitioners.

Other notable guests included retired MLB player Vince Coleman, former San Francisco 49ers Tom Rathman and JJ Stokes, former Las Vegas Raiders and Kansas City Royals player Bo Jackson, PGA champions Mike Weir and Rod Pampling and PGA instructor Alex Murray. Members of the Stanford Men’s and Women’s Golf Teams also participated.

Ibanez led the evening’s live auction, with hot ticket items including a luxury golf-and-lunch package at the Nanea Golf Club on the Big Island of Hawaii, a private golf lesson with Northern California PGA Teacher of the Year Josh Zander, and a custom set of TaylorMade golf clubs.

The event’s presenting sponsor was SoFi; additional sponsors included Supergoop, Qualia, Clear Golf, and Tracy Toyota. The event committee consisted of Stacy Denman, Jake Leschly, Ronnie Lott, Kristin Noto, Linnea Roberts, and Jennifer Sills.

About the Child Mind Institute

The Child Mind Institute is dedicated to transforming the lives of children and families struggling with mental health and learning disorders by giving them the help they need to thrive. We’ve become the leading independent nonprofit in children’s mental health by providing gold-standard evidence-based care, delivering educational resources to millions of families each year, training educators in underserved communities, and developing tomorrow’s breakthrough treatments. Together, we truly can transform children’s lives.

Editor’s Note: Images can be found here. Please credit Carmen Holt Photography.