The Story of Golden Minds

“Peak Performance Starts With Strong Mental Fitness”
—Karen Phelps, Golden Minds

Director Karen Phelps, daughter of legendary Irish basketball coach Digger Phelps, has been around sports and the mental wellness movement her entire life. As the former wife of a major league baseball pitcher for decades and the mother of six children who all played college sports, she is all too familiar with the high-pressure, intense spotlight and endless demands young people on campus endure.

For years, Karen built up her knowledge around mental fitness, leading her to launch her own foundation, now Eluna Network (elunanetwork.org) – a trailblazing endeavor establishing grief and addiction camps for children dealing with loss or drugs and alcohol. Her work has been honored countless times and the HBO documentary chronicling her humanitarian work with children in grief ("One Last Hug...") earned an Emmy Award.

As she continued to read about and hear about the alarming rise in rates of anxiety and depression in college sports – including the shocking tragic suicides of multiple players and the abrupt retirement of student-athletes over their mental fitness crisis, Phelps rolled up her sleeves to help create more solutions.

“We need to do more, and now – and we can,” says Phelps. “We created this one-stop online platform to make navigating mental fitness easier. There’s no reason every athlete shouldn’t put their mental wellness first because it’s everything. Any stigma about it must stop – we all need to be telling players, mental fitness goes hand in hand with physical health, that talking to others and seeking support is a sign of strength not weakness, and that they are surrounded by a community ready to lift them up and connect them to the right resource. We passionately believe Golden Minds can be a part of these necessary conversations.”


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Karen Phelps

Board of Directors

This Board is for graduated athletes.

The Student-Athlete Wellness Advisory Council (SAWAC) is a community passionately dedicated to championing the holistic wellness of student-athletes.

Our Team

Karen Phelps, CEO

Sean Collins, Director of Partnerships Golden Touch

Sofia Dolan, Executive Assistant to CEO

Kelley Rourke, Social Media Manager and Special Events

Sara Bastian, Website Manager

Pedrera, Web Designer

Isabella Cuevas, Golden Minds Executive Coordinator


Student athlete internships are always available - Reach out to [email protected]