This fall, three NFL teams will take the field under a new kind of spotlight: Mental Health Awareness Games. But these games weren’t conceived in a league office or marketing department. They were built from the ground up by clinicians, advocates and athletes who are driving mental health forward in sports, without waiting for permission.

Over three consecutive weeks and across Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Phoenix, this series of games represents a cultural inflection point for professional sports. It brings up the question of who leads the mental health movement in sports — leagues, clinicians or the other organizations in the space?

The first of three mental health games will take place on Nov. 23 at SoFi Stadium, when the Los Angeles Rams host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Rams’ Raise Awareness for Mental Health Game brings together the American Board of Sports & Performance Psychiatry, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, the American Psychiatric Association Foundation and The Hidden Opponent.

Ahead of kickoff, there will be an invitation-only panel held at YouTube Theater, at which experts from across the country will come together to discuss the importance of addressing athlete mental health and well-being, especially in professional sports.

As Dr. Carrie Hastings, sport psychologist for the Rams, explains: “There is such power in the NFL partnering with nonprofit organizations, including the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, because it helps decrease the stigmas of mental illness and help-seeking........

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