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Virginia Tech

Retreating to Restore: A Haven for the Athletic Mind and Body

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

Mental health struggles and suicide rates in athletic populations have been on the rise for the past two decades, with an even bigger increase since the pandemic. Disorders such as stress, depression, and anxiety have been the main causes for these struggles and fatalities. The growing rates of mental health disorders and suicide within this population indicate that athletes do not have the adequate resources to restore and improve their mental health. In some instances of presenting their troubles to coaches, staff, or teammates, their only advice is to seek help with on-campus resources or resources at home. Although this can be sound advice in some cases, this can also create the sense that there is no escape from what may be the cause of these mental obstacles. The purpose of this thesis is to create a mental health retreat for collegiate, professional, olympic, and retired athletes. Tucked away at the edge of Rock Creek Park in Washington, D.C., in between existing amenities such as the Carter Barron Amphitheatre and the William Fitzgerald Tennis Center, the retreat allows for the continual use of existing amenities along with other resources and practices provided on-site. This retreat aims to provide spaces and resources at a location that teams or individuals can visit to allow for healing and education about these mental health disorders. This serene space in the middle of a chaotic big city will provide space for resting, performing, healing, and overall restoring which begins to break the barriers between what can be overcome in the feelings that may seem indomitable.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Architecture
Level thesis:degree_level
masters
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Architecture
Department dc:contributor.department
Architecture
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Tech
Year dc:date.issued
2024

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Villegas, Arianna Rosario
Chair dc:contributor.committeechair
  • Piedmont-Palladino, Susan C.
Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
  • Emmons, Paul F.
  • Mars, Randall A.

Subjects

dc:subject × 9

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
Language dc:language.iso
en

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Dc Identifier Other
vt_gsexam:41032
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/119280

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-24
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Villegas, Arianna Rosario. Retreating to Restore: A Haven for the Athletic Mind and Body. masters thesis, Virginia Tech, 2024. https://hdl.handle.net/10919/119280