Mental health has been at the forefront of professional athletes’ advocacy over the past few years, with gymnast Simone Biles, swimmer Michael Phelps and tennis player Naomi Osaka just some of the sports personalities speaking out and pushing for change. After experiencing multiple difficult periods in her own life, Paralympic track and field athlete Jaleen Roberts joined that movement herself.
A two-time silver medalist Paralympian, Roberts uses her platform to inspire younger athletes both on and off the track. She’s a proud mental health advocate and member of the LGBTQ+ community, openly telling stories of her own mental health struggles.
Roberts, who has cerebral palsy, grew up in Washington as a multisport athlete, starting with soccer then branching out to cheer, basketball and more. In middle and high school, she also focused on wrestling and track.
In her junior year, Roberts began receiving letters and talking to people about different collegiate wrestling opportunities. She wanted to continue with sports at that level, but didn’t feel drawn to any of the schools working with her. Around the same time, Washington started an ambulatory division for track and field.
“My high school coach tried to get me to do that, but I didn’t really want to, because I never highlighted my disability,” she said. “It was just something that I always deemed as normal.”
Later on, Roberts’ coach pulled her aside to tell her two Paralympic coaches who founded an adaptive track club in Spokane wanted to speak with her about joining the Paralympics. Still not knowing much about the team, Roberts was averse to the idea. However, her coach kept encouraging and educating her about the potential opportunities and competitiveness involved.
After they watched Roberts compete in Seattle soon after, she received paperwork to confirm her disability and other medical information. The next year, she was competing at her first adaptive track meet and national championships, as well as her first world team.
Roberts’ initial aversion to the adaptive side of track wasn’t from any shame or desire to hide her cerebral palsy—her mother always empowered her to be proud of it. Roberts said competing in able-body sports her whole life had pushed her in a different way than athletes who compete in adaptive sports, and she never previously felt the desire to compete in a different field.
Her adolescent and teen years were also when Roberts began to realize her queer identity, privately telling someone she thought she was bisexual when she was in middle school. In high school, she had her first queer relationship and felt the support from her mother, friends and larger high school community.
“I’m glad and I’m fortunate because I understand that’s not a lot of people’s stories that are a part of the LGBT community,” she said. “I know it’s even harder for transgender individuals [and] the people who are wanting to transition.”
Growing up in California and Washington, she also felt a sense of safety in the progressive policies of those states.
In 2017, Roberts flew to London to compete in her first World Para Athletics Championship. She was initially intimidated by the process as someone raised by a single mother in a low-income household who also hadn’t traveled beyond North America. Looking back at the competition, she can still recall how bright the stadium lights looked, how loud the crowd cheered and how her hands shook on the starting line.
“My coach told me every track is 400 meters no matter where you go,” she said. “So once the gun went off, I just blacked out in a good way and all I’m thinking was, ‘Just run fast.’”
She went on to win bronze medals in the women’s 100 and 200 meter races along with a silver in the women’s long jump. Her 200 meter time of 28.28 set a U.S. record.
Roberts went on to become a regular at international tournaments, with her first Paralympics appearance scheduled for Tokyo 2020. When the games and her school were postponed in March 2020, alongside personal issues taking root behind the scenes in her own life, she began to experience a mental health decline.
As she was driving one day, she called her mother to express how scared she was of her own suicidal ideation. Her mother told her to drive to her coach’s house, where Roberts ended up telling him she needed help. She ultimately decided to go to a psychiatric hospital where she stayed for three days and received a diagnosis for bipolar type II.
Following her stay at the hospital, Roberts and her coach had a powerful conversation about her “why” as an athlete—what did it feel like the first time she ran? What is her bigger purpose for competing in the sport? For Roberts, that meant being a role model for younger people.
This return to thinking about her basic goals inspired her to speak out about her own mental health journey and the power of resilience in the face of adversity. Once places and activities started opening back up a bit, Roberts found herself fully mentally immersed in her sport again especially with the new Paralympics date set.
But in May 2021, she received a call that her best friend had died by suicide.
Following the news, Roberts went back home, and didn’t think she was going to mentally strong enough to compete in the games. She wasn’t training as she tried to cope with the new loss and began to physically decline.
While Roberts continued to fight through another mental health battle, she spoke to her coach about the upcoming games. Through these conversations, she was able to find a way to rededicate what competing in the 2021 games would mean to her now that she found herself in a much different place than just a few months ago.
Roberts went on to compete in Tokyo and dedicated her competitions to her friend.
“I think that really helped me because when I was long jumping, it kind of felt like her presence was there, supporting me and uplifting me,” she said. “After that long jump, there [were] just a lot of emotions.”
Despite initially feeling a lack of preparedness, she began to feel more confident in her abilities and experience as the games went on. She finished the 2021 Paralympics with silver medals in her women’s long jump and 100 meter categories.
After qualifying for Team U.S.A. during the Paralympic track and field trials July 18-20, she’s officially set to compete in her second Paralympic games this summer in Paris, which take place Aug. 28-Sept. 8.
Off the track, Roberts has received messages from young girls and parents alike telling her how she’s helped or inspired their daughters in the sport over the past few years. She hopes mental health continues to be an open conversation in athletics and that sports even require coaches to take courses on how to recognize the signs of declining mental health.
Although most of her advocacy work has centered around mental health, she also wants to explore more ways to advocate for the queer community. She’s previously participated in a pop up at Angel City FC’s Pride night to promote the Paralympics and enjoyed the community engagement aspect.
Roberts always welcomes her friends’ and peers’ input on her advocacy and how she can improve the way she uses her platform. Back home, her mother is supportive—and constantly telling people about the work she’s doing on and off the track. Roberts feels fortunate she’s grown up with a strong support system which has encouraged her to be open about both how she feels and what’s important to her. She has a younger sibling who’s working on navigating their own gender identity as well; Roberts especially values that connection between them.
“So far, I’ve seen a lot of positive change,” she said. “It’s just rewarding, that me telling my story, and me encouraging others to speak up and reach out, is paying off and it’s actually making a difference.”