Dr. Desaree Festa: The Importance Of Addressing Mental Health In The NFL | One Bills Live

Added: 2026-05-31

[00:00:00]All right, back here on One Bills Live on a Friday. Chris Brown, Matty Glad with you live at the Mill store. And joining us now here as mental health awareness month comes to a close. It's already May 29th. Crazy.

[00:00:12]>> I know. Is our head of performance psychology and mental wellness, Dr. Desiree Festa, better known at One Bill's Drive as Dr. Dez. Um, which incidentally, did you who gave do you remember who gave you that nickname because it stuck fast.

[00:00:27]>> Yeah. Um, yeah, it was uh Coach Mcder at the combine on my very first day of working.

[00:00:33]>> Really?

[00:00:33]>> Yeah, >> man. That stuck. Um, because I like I actually had to look up your full name.

[00:00:38]Like not not today. I knew it before today, but I'm saying like just around the building. That's how you were referred to. Yeah. And it's just like what is her full name? I'm embarrassed to say I didn't. This is like a couple years ago, but I was like I'm embarrassed to say I don't know it. And then I had to go look it up because like that just became your moniker. Like you were Dr. Dez. I guess there's like an informal >> nature that you kind of want to have to especially in the line of work that you're in. You want it to be open and free flowing and right like that's so that's a good thing.

[00:01:07]>> Yes. And I get a lot of nicknames like or just Dez or DD. What? Desi.

[00:01:12]>> Oh, so there are multiple ones. I see. I was unaware of this. Yeah. Okay.

[00:01:15]>> Um >> wait, does Alec Anderson call you Desi?

[00:01:18]Because that would make sense in my brain.

[00:01:20]>> There probably a variety of things.

[00:01:22]>> Okay. Um, so we wanted to get you on because there's there's some great leaguewide news that we'll get to in just a second here, but what do you think is was the impetus and how much did sports psychologists maybe that already existed around the league push for the NFL to require fulltime mental health care at all 32 team facilities?

[00:01:49]>> Yeah. So, initially started in 2019, there was a minimum requirement put in place that every team had to have 8 to 12 hours of a mental health provider coming into their building. And then this year, the league put in a place that every team has to have full-time mental health coverage. And that came from the league, it came from the NFL PA, it came from the players. It was like unanimous. Everyone felt like this is the time to have the full-time requirement of mental health coverage.

[00:02:17]So what that means is that there needs to be a mental health provider in the building full-time. Now some teams might be one person that's like myself, >> right?

[00:02:26]>> Other teams it might be a mix and match between different providers splitting the work and the time but they want a mental health >> provider in the building when players are in the building. And full-time might look a little different, >> right, >> than your 40hour full-time. So you know in season >> NFL schedule >> it's seven days a week, right? So, >> and travel.

[00:02:48]>> And travel. Yes. So, for me, myself, I'm traveling with the team. I'm in the building when the players are in the building.

[00:02:55]>> Um, I'm along for the ride with them.

[00:02:57]>> Yeah. Because I know there were, and I have even talked to you about this, there were press conferences that we would see around the league and you'd hear from these players and you could tell they were like struggling. And I know you would often lament the fact that not every team in the league had the same providers like we have here with you and you almost you ache for them almost a little bit knowing that and that's been it's great it's been taken care of now that the everybody's got coverage and everybody can be taken care of as they need it.

[00:03:28]>> Yeah. And having a mandate like this having the NFL introduce something like this. Why do you view this as such a big win for the NFL at large? Yeah, it just increases accessibility for players. It normalizes the mental health provider.

[00:03:44]So, we have trainers that are full-time.

[00:03:46]We have strength coaches that are full-time, dietitians that are full-time. Now, your mental health provider is also full-time, part of the team. So, it's just normalizing mental health as part of care for players and it's just as important as the other roles that are on the team. And then I'm sure in the time that you've been here, you've seen the benefits. I mean, not to toot your own horn, but you know what I'm talking about. Just, you know, the benefits of, you know, just being aware of your own mental health, first of all, and then taking the steps to make sure you're in a place where there is that intercom piece, whatever you want to put on it in your terms of your individual description. But over the multiple years that you have been here, how have you seen the team kind of reap the benefits from your presence?

[00:04:35]>> So when I first started in February of 2020, so this is before all that life goddess with 2020.

[00:04:42]>> That's timing.

[00:04:43]>> Yeah.

[00:04:44]>> It was more focused on one-on-one care with players. But now that I'm entering my seventh season with the organization of having a full-time mental health provider present, it now has expanded to a program. So, it's one-on-one care.

[00:05:00]It's small groups for players. It's go talking in team meeting to the big groups. It's offering books and um handouts and information. So, however the player wants to engage with mental health, there's resources in all different types of way with whatever stage that they're at.

[00:05:19]>> Do you find that that's easier to get a player started that might be still because there's a lot of people, you know, based on their upbringing where that's still a stigma to a certain degree and maybe the group setting maybe facilitates and encourages them to take a step into that.

[00:05:36]>> Yeah. Some might do better in a group setting. They might feel there might be more social. They might feel more comfortable. Some come in more from the entry point of mental performance and strategies for themselves on the field to help optimize themselves as a performer and then it can move into the area of mental health. Um, not with the mental health mandate. It's to have a mental health provider full-time in the building. Not necessarily every team has someone like myself that is a sports psychologist. So as a sports psychologist um I have the highest level of training all psychologists do when it comes to mental health the clinical component of it but then I have an additional master's degree when it comes to the mental performance like how to optimize these guys on the field. I'm pointing to the stadium that I'm looking at right now.

[00:06:22]>> It's hard to ignore it sitting here.

[00:06:24]some of them that's a that's the entry point when you can help them in something they care about that they're doing every day to optimize that and then it might turn into hey I got some family stuff going on or I'm about to have a baby become a dad or um you know it it's hard to separate the performer for life from life and life from the performer >> definitely I think to the conversation that you and I had with several different players as a part of mental health awareness month we released a long form interview which you can find on buffalo bills.com and YouTube where we talked to Ty Johnson, Reed Ferguson, Cedric Vanpran Granger, Dwayne Carter, and We Owens. I don't think I'm missing anybody. It was a big group, five. Okay.

[00:07:10]And it was amazing to see them as NFL athletes like on top of the world because they are, you know, the 1enters who get to do something like this, but be so open about mental health, how they have found mental strength and the struggles they've gone through. Like Tai Johnson talked about going through an injury and finding you through that and then feeling like when he overcame that injury, his mental fortitude was so strong and he felt like he was in a great place. Wanda Owens opened up about missing his entire rookie season because of an injury and kind of trying to figure out where feels like home. How can I adjust to this entirely new life while I'm also dealing with this really tough injury? and Cedric Van Pan Granger opened to us, opened up to us about being a younger player in the NFL and having a lot of anxiety and kind of dealing with the pressures of being an NFL player and how you really helped him through a lot of that. It was amazing to hear them be so honest and and humble and open about their struggles and how you have helped them in that and and now kind of some of them sitting on the other side of what they went through and looking at those valleys in life as ways that they have grown a lot and feel like they're in a way better place because of going through something like that, but also learning tools to get them through some of those tough times.

[00:08:35]Yes, there's a lot I could say about what you just mentioned too. Okay, first is the entry point of injury, right?

[00:08:43]Players are when it comes to injury versus players, injury is undefeated, meaning that every player is going to sustain an injury in the sport of football, especially at the NFL level.

[00:08:54]>> And injury is hard for a lot of these guys when they're going through the injury process. It mirrors the same thing as a grief process. So, if anyone knows of the five stages of grief, There's they go through aspects of that and helping them work through the injury component. Sometimes that could be the hardest thing they ever go through is when the thing that has given them the most confidence >> is now being shut down.

[00:09:18]>> Yeah. Because they can't perform.

[00:09:19]>> Yeah. So getting support for that and that is something that the league really wanted to emphasize helping players that are vulnerable. Injury is vulnerable.

[00:09:28]Providing support for guys that are in the injury process.

[00:09:31]Um, I also want to highlight too, um, that I can't bust into the doors here at the Bills. People have to invite me in and give me time and space. So, this program that we've built over time, fortunately, leaders of our organization were on the forefront and were proactive and knew that we needed a mental health resource way back in 2020 and opened the doors and I continually getting doors open for me from our leadership to come on in. So that also requires having a full-time mental health provider but also the leaders opening the doors and giving you access and time.

[00:10:07]>> Yeah.

[00:10:08]>> Um what do you think society as a whole still gets wrong about mental health?

[00:10:14]Because as I mentioned like there are still places where it's a stigma or it's viewed as especially for you know young men that are raised you know macho alpha male sport and all that stuff that you know oh if I'm tapping into my mental health I'm soft I'm not strong enough. What do we get wrong still even now about the values of mental health?

[00:10:39]So, in that podcast that we did with Maddie, um she had a great question where it's like, "What's the one word that comes to mind when you hear mental health?" So, with your listeners here, I want them to think about that one word.

[00:10:52]>> And sometimes the initial connotation with it is something negative, problems, issues, and it it's a more people have a more limited lens of understanding mental health. Just like our physical health is on a continuum. Sometimes you're thriving and you're at peak performance and other times you're just like surviving or getting through.

[00:11:13]>> Yeah.

[00:11:14]>> You know, you go to your annual checkups for your doctors and then sometimes you you have illness or you're sick or you need more intense care. This the same spectrum when it comes to mental health.

[00:11:25]your times that you're thriving in life and you're being super resilient and then life throws you some hard curveballs and then you're struggling and then um there's sometimes that you're really going through something and that you need to see a doctor, a physician, a specialist to help you through that situation. So equating mental health on the same continuum as physical health and we all have mental health like you have a brain, you have a mind, like we all have a mind, we all have emotions. So there's a health state to those things. So, I think just broadering broadening the spectrum, which is what we're doing here in the NFL and here at the Bills, is just broadening the spectrum of mental health and what that means and seeing it as a proactive tool that you can integrate.

[00:12:12]You could actually leverage this as something to optimize yourself and your performance and your relationships. It's not just a problem based resource.

[00:12:21]>> Yeah, that that makes me think of what Reed Ferguson said in that interview. He said, "When I came in the league, one of the veterans told me very early on was that, you know, making it in the NFL, 10% of it is physical and 90% is mental.

[00:12:35]And learning about mental strength and how to use it and how to how to find that within my game has helped me be in the NFL for as long as I have." As you think about mental health and and being proactive in that, what are some tools that we can all use to help our mental health and wellness?

[00:12:55]>> First, I really want to encourage the Buffalo fan base to really try out therapy if you have not. You don't have to wait until there's a problem to go find a mental health specialist >> um to start in therapy. Sometimes therapy is just nice to have a dedicated time and space to reflect on what am I thinking? what am I feeling? What do I got going on? And having a mental game plan of how to move forward.

[00:13:18]>> But once you find that mental health provider that can that you connect with when life throws you hard things because it will and it will it does to all of us. You have someone that understands you that you could reach out to. So I encourage people, you know, try therapy.

[00:13:34]Um don't just don't try one session and be like, "Hey, I'm done. You know, not for me."

[00:13:40]>> Give it like three. It's kind of like try it three times. Y >> and then sometimes you have to kind of search around for someone that's a good fit for you. So >> just give it time to find someone that could be um that you feel like is good to understand you.

[00:13:56]>> Um we teach the players a lot of tools on the field that can apply to your everyday life. And I just talked to our rookies today about the skill of breathing and how to breathe and and you know the the term deep breathing is actually out of date. So you know those big breaths that you take like when you think of breathing in >> you're filling up that chest. Well research has showed science has showed that that stimulates more of a stress response in your nervous system. The calming down it's the slow exhale out is actually helps your nervous system your mind and your body recover >> and reset. So, we're all breathing.

[00:14:34]>> Regular breath in, >> extended breath out. Don't do the big heaving inhale.

[00:14:39]>> Yeah. Try to avoid the big heaving inhale. Just nice slow calm breath out.

[00:14:44]>> All right. That's good to know.

[00:14:45]>> Yeah.

[00:14:46]>> Because I've always I because I had heard of the 876 breath where you breathe in for eight, which is hard for me to even do. My diaphragm is full >> and then hold it for seven, exhale for six. But okay, I'm going to go shallower now >> because it was hard doing it for eight seconds. I was like, "Does this really work?" Sometimes you try to do it when you can't sleep, you know?

[00:15:05]>> Yeah. And sometimes the breath holds could actually create more of a stress response, too. So that holding Yes. So Oh, the magic's in the exhale. Okay.

[00:15:14]>> The magic is in the exhale. I love that.

[00:15:16]Uh you spoke about the buyin. I just wanted to reference this uh as we wrap up the interview because Joe Brady has shown as our new head coach that he has bought in to you, what you're doing to mental health and wellness and what it can do for a team. And he spoke on it and we have uh we'll have a graphic go out I think later um this weekend or maybe today about it and he said strong teams aren't built by pretending everything's okay. A connected football team is built by men who are willing to speak up, check in, and carry the weight together. You can't expect to perform at a high level physically if you ignore what's happening mentally. Take care of your mind. Take care of your team. And I thought that was a great way to kind of sum up what taking care of your mental health means to the Bills.

[00:16:02]>> Yeah. And um you know earlier when I was talking about people need to open the door, one of the biggest real estates that we have inside the building is meeting time, you know, and coach Brady has given me time in front like that's his time or coach's time and it's opened up time for me to have with the players.

[00:16:20]Um that shows how much he values it and our coaching staff values it.

[00:16:24]>> I think that statement that he had said it all really in terms of how he feels about it. So great to hear that and a good one to end on. Mattie. Uh, doctor, thank you very much for the times. It was a nice way to finish up mental health awareness month. So, thanks for joining us here on the show.

[00:16:39]>> Thank you.

[00:16:39]>> That's head of performance psychology and mental wellness, Dr. The Desire Fest joining