By Jim Fenton
BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- Student-athletes on the campus of Bridgewater State University have an outlet when they are in need of help with their mental health.
Morgan's Message, a national non-profit organization that was formed following the suicide of a Duke University women's lacrosse player, arrived at Bridgewater State last year and provides mental health awareness.
Bridgewater State senior basketball player Caroline Tripp is the president of the school's Morgan's Message chapter with lacrosse player Haley Wood the co-president and softball player McKayla Cusack serving as the vice president.
Morgan Rodgers of Virginia was 22 years old when she took her own life on July 11, 2019. She had earned a lacrosse scholarship at Duke, but after suffering a serious knee injury as a sophomore in 2017, struggled with depression.
Rodgers' mother, Dona, is co-founder of Morgan's Message, which has 1,321 colleges and high schools participating in the United States, Canada and England.
Bridgewater State is one of 31 colleges in Massachusetts with a Morgan's Message chapter. The goal for the leaders of Morgan's Message is to help relieve the stress and anxiety that comes with being a student and athlete.
“Morgan's Message, what it’s about is mental health and student-athletes and eliminating the stigma of mental health,” said Wood. “The fact that this club is going nationwide and bringing awareness of these things, it's truly an amazing thing.”
The family of Morgan Rodgers wanted to open an avenue for student-athletes to deal with any problems that may arise, and now athletes at BSU have that outlet with their own Morgan's Message chapter.
“Morgan had so much going on that nobody knew what she was dealing with,” said BSU women's basketball coach and recruiting coordinator Bridgett Casey. “It's out there and it exists, and we want to spread awareness. 'It's OK not to be OK.' That was our motto last year for all student-athletes.
“There's more to student-athletes than just participating in (competition). They have so much else going on in their lives, whether it's work, whether it's family or relationship issues or financial issues. I think everybody sees athletes and thinks they're athletes, they have everything together. A lot of times, that's not the case.
“Spreading awareness is what really these student-athletes have done over the past couple of years.”
Tripp, Wood and Cusack got things going on the BSU campus a year ago this fall, getting the word out and drawing some athletes to Morgan's Message.
They have expanded this semester, getting “ambassadors” from each team at Bridgewater State, holding meetings every other week and offering help to student-athletes in need.
“If we can do small things and they can open up to us or someone else on a bad day, that's what we're trying to do,” said Tripp, a senior from Plymouth. “It's helped me a lot. People can come to us. If I can take the load off of someone's day and help them out a little bit, that's all we're trying to do.
“We're forming a different sense of community in athletics rather than always talking about sports. We're supporting each other.”
Wood, a senior from Middleboro, transferred to Bridgewater State from Framingham State in 2022 and found the Morgan's Message group helpful as she made a transition midway through her college life.
“I didn't really know anybody at all when I got here,” said Wood. “Especially as a transfer student-athlete, it was a very big roadblock for me. Because I could personally relate to it, I wanted to get involved with something like this and help other people get through.”
Tripp, Wood and Cusack are the board members, and they meet every other week with 14 other student-athletes. There are group discussions and events, such as suicide prevention awareness month in September, as well as fund raising to help the organizations. T-shirts are bought and students are wearing Morgan's Message bracelets.
“We've had good conversations at meetings,” said Tripp. “It's kind of hard to break down that wall. It's going to be a hard conversation, but that's what we're here for. We've had good attendance at events.
“It's kind of cool walking around campus and sometimes I'll see someone I don't really know, and they'll have a Morgan's Message bracelet on. We hit the ground running this year and are starting to plan more events. We have an older group now and we're trying to get the underclassmen involved.”
Cusack, of West Haven, Conn., remembers being one of three people at the first meeting a year ago, but there has been plenty of progress since.
“The goal is to get as many student-athletes involved as we can,” she said. “We want to spread awareness and have them understand what it is like being a student-athlete and the mental toll it takes sometimes.
“I think it's very helpful. I know there's a stigma around starting a conversation about mental health. You have anxiety that is sports related. Just having people who are in the community with no judgment here, you can talk about anything.”
Casey said that she incorporated mental health training for her team during the 2022-23 women's basketball season.
The Bears overcame a 23-point second half deficit to defeat Westfield State in the MASCAC championship game on the way to the NCAA tournament.
“In terms of my team, last season we brought in someone to talk about mental health and what your body goes through when you're feeling certain ways, when you're anxious, what does that do your body and how does that affect your classroom work or on the court,” said Casey.
“The final tipping point for us was how they handled being down 23 with eight minutes to go in the third quarter of the championship game at home when you're the No. 1 seed and expected to win. All of that weighed on them and I firmly believe if we didn't go through that mental health training on how to handle things when they were coming at us, we would not have been able to get through that championship game.”
Tripp, Wood and Cusack are on the ground floor of Morgan's Message at Bridgewater State and want to do as much as possible to get the program on solid footing for the future.
“It's baby steps and we have a lot of room to grow,” said Tripp. “We put a lot of time into it because we want to and enjoy doing it. It's been a good experience.”
Said Wood: “Last year we were kind of all over the place. I definitely think there has been a huge difference in the sense of awareness. The awareness is in the right direction. We're trying to structure the club to set it up for success in the figure.”
Added Cusack: “I hope we get more involvement. We want to get more teams, more representatives, more faculty involved. I know Morgan's Message is geared to athletes, but we want to get the message to the entire student body. I love doing this and helping others.”