Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka always says, “it’s OK to talk about” mental health. Since her Roland Garros 2021 withdrawal, Osaka has become a spokesperson for athletes’ mental health. She further extended her advocacy by partnering with an organization that believes in the same goal. Now, with their three years of collaborative work, Osaka has taken the stage to shower her love for her organization’s new feat.

In her official Instagram story, Osaka shared Modern Health’s post about reaching a new milestone and expressed her happiness about being a part of such a great endeavor. “5 million moments of care,” captioned Osaka, adding a clap emoji. “Proud to be partnered with such an amazing company that supports mental health,” Osaka added further.

Modern Health is an American company founded by CEO Alyson Watson, who aims to prioritize mental health and strength for all with its advocacy and rehabilitation policies. The organization’s official Instagram page shared a post where it shared its incredible milestone of reaching 5 million needy people to offer them mental health assistance. Speaking about how its “mission is to make mental health a strength and priority for all,” Modern Health further revealed that its work has been recognized by Nasdaq.

Naomi Osaka’s happiness with Modern Health’s recent feat represents her dedication to her goals. Two years back in May, Osaka joined this organization with a mission to “raise further awareness and destigmatize mental health care, especially among younger generations and marginalized communities.” 

She joined Modern Health as its Chief Community Health Advocate to look after its community impact program, Modern Health Community. “It was an easy decision to join Modern Health. We are aligned in our passion to support our communities, and as an entrepreneur myself, I was inspired by the strong leadership under Alyson. Together, I believe we can start to erase some of the stigma and normalize conversations about mental health so people feel empowered to seek help when they need it,” she said.

Osaka also developed personalized tools for meditation and narrated these to the organization’s members and non-members. This Japanese WTA star aimed for “everyone to have the opportunity to start somewhere,” which propelled her to come up with the meditation tools.

This Japanese US Open champion’s recent social media cheer for Modern Health expressed her enthusiasm to actively work in the field of mental health. After all, Osaka withdrew from the Roland Garros in 2021 to focus on her mental well-being, making herself a prominent figure in prioritizing athletes’ mental health and well-being.

Naomi Osaka believes it’s O.K. to not be O.K.” while dropping her bits about her mental health struggle

After her 2021 French Open withdrawal, Osaka candidly spoke about her mental health battles, her learnings from the phase, and her relationship with the media in an essay in Time Magazine. While she revealed her understanding about not being able to “please everyone,” she also realized during her withdrawal from the Grand Slam that “literally everyone either suffers from issues related to their mental health or knows someone who does.”

Speaking about her controversial stand to miss the French Open press conference for her mental peace, Osaka further shared how she “felt under a great amount of pressure to disclose” her symptoms as “the press and the tournament did not believe” her. However, she revealed how she wishes to stay away from the spotlight.

“I feel uncomfortable being the spokesperson or face of athlete mental health as it’s still so new to me and I don’t have all the answers. I do hope that people can relate and understand it’s O.K. to not be O.K., and it’s O.K. to talk about it.” The Japanese player became the face of mental health conversations and continues to take the role seriously as she aims to come back on the WTA Tour as well.