Morgan’s Message Helps Student-Athletes Manage Their Mental Health
For many student-athletes, sports function as an outlet for their struggles and frustrations. Unfortunately, at all levels and especially at the collegiate level, the stress of balancing one to two practices a day along with classes, proper nutrition, sleep, friends, and family can become too much to handle. BSU Women’s Basketball senior Caroline Tripp (she/her) is working to change this and remove the stigma around mental health with Morgan’s Message. Joining Tripp is Women’s Lacrosse senior Hailey Hood (she/her) as the co-president and softball pitcher Mikayla Cusack (she/her) as the vice president.
Morgan’s Message is a non-profit organization that was formed after the suicide of former Duke University Women’s Lacrosse player Morgan Rogers (she/her) in 2019. Morgan’s Message has chapters on 1,447 different colleges across the U.S., Canada, and England.
Tripp was inspired to start a chapter of the national organization here at BSU last year when she began following them on social media and saw a need for something like it here. “After Covid, I think a lot of people were struggling to get back into the swing of things and we rely on our sports so much to be our outlet and for a year or so we did not have that. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to create a community of people at school that could normalize all the struggles people go through as a college athlete.”
Each team has two team reps who all meet frequently to discuss mental health and how they can support their team with the things they learn through Morgan’s Message. Tripp never wants to add anything to the athlete’s plates; they can participate as much as they are able to.
Tripp says, “It brings people together from every team and age group to work together with one common goal of spreading awareness for something we are passionate about. It gives you the ability to speak, collaborate, and learn about mental health.”
Morgan’s Message will be having dedication games and meets throughout this year, with Swimming and Diving’s invitational meet on December 2 being the next one. Caroline wants everyone to know that: “You are not alone and all of us here in Morgan’s Message are here to talk to anyone who is having a hard time.”
Be sure to follow BSU’s Morgan’s Message account, @morgansmessage.bsu on Instagram to find out more and follow along with events throughout the school year.
