The Counter-Strike Professional Players’ Association (CSPPA) and Danish organization North entered a partnership today that will offer North’s players clinical psychological treatment and introduce an education program to safeguard the players’ mental health.
The CSPPA plans to offer a similar program for all CS:GO players and teams in the near future. North’s players will have full access to a dedicated clinical psychologist, offered by an online service called We.Care, which offers clinical psychologists specialized in issues related to the environment of professional sports.
Apart from the dedicated psychologist, MSL and crew will begin an online training program that will help them to identify the “body’s stress signals as well as a possible post-treatment program,” according to the CSPPA’s statement.
North and the CSPPA agreed to enter the partnership for a two-month trial period, after which both parties will evaluate the results. The partnership comes one week after CSPPA launched a research project with English universities to examine what factors influence the mental health of esports players, specifically in CS:GO.
Several top CS:GO players, such as gla1ve, Xyp9x, ALEX, and olofmeister, have stepped away from competitive play this year due to feeling symptoms related to burnout, which has become a common topic in the community.
“Over the last couple of years, players have experienced increased pressure,” North’s captain MSL said. “Young and old players alike are partaking in more and more tournaments, which can be stressful at times. We have seen some of the world’s best experience this.”
