Mental health is a topic that has often been pushed to the side, and is given little thought in the case of student-athletes. People typically put emphasis and care on the physical health of athletes, overlooking the struggles they may be facing mentally.

As Quinnipiac University’s Division I and club athletes gear up for the 2024-25 seasons, the community strives to bring awareness to student-athletes’ mental health as a part of Morgan’s Message.

Morgan’s Message is a non-profit organization created in remembrance of Morgan Rodgers, a Division I lacrosse player at Duke University.

In January of 2017, Rodgers was sidelined by a knee injury that required several surgeries and months of recovery. Two summers later, she died by suicide at the age of 22.

“It’s important that people feel they’re supported, and regardless if you know they’re injured or if they may seem perfectly fine,” sophomore field hockey defender Katie Shanahan said. “It’s important that people are checked on, and mental health awareness is something that should not be taken lightly.”

Morgan’s Message was created to bring awareness to the mental health of student-athletes at the high school and collegiate levels, encouraging peer conversations around mental health, a topic that has been pushed to the side for athletes. The organization further strives to empower athletes who suffer in silence and support those who feel alone.

Sophomore track and field sprinter Elise Barricelli is this year’s president of the Quinnipiac Morgan’s Message chapter, holding meetings, organizing events and creating workshops for students.

“I’ve always been an advocate for mental health awareness since high school, and it’s something that’s really important to me, and to be a part of a cause that is for mental health for student athletes, specifically means a lot to me,” Barricelli said.

Barricelli got the role as president this year and has been thrilled to lead a great initiative and spread it across campus to all athletes, whether they play at the Division I or club level,” Baricelli said.

Baricelli is also in charge of the events.

“There was a speaker that I organized to come,” Barricelli said. “That was really impactful, to just hear someone else’s story about how they dealt with mental health and kind of what they’ve been through through their life.”

While student-athlete mental health had been previously neglected, through Morgan’s Message, communities are able to normalize conversations surrounding mental health for athletes. Morgan’s Message further provides student ambassadors with the proper tools and help to get started on their campuses and spread the message, through their education department.

“We help them get started, and then we ask them to attend an onboarding Zoom, which goes through their role as an ambassador, how we support them and kind of the commitments that we’re looking for from them,” said Haley Thomas, the education coordinator for Morgan’s Message.

Shanahan, the Quinnipiac student-athlete ambassador chair, and has been involved with Morgan’s Message since her freshman year. She is one of 2,515 college ambassadors volunteering to promote student-athlete mental health and Morgan’s Message across their respective campuses.

“I know that mental health is super important as a student athlete and a college student in general,” Shanahan said. “It’s important to prioritize mental health and making sure that you’re doing everything in your power to put yourself in the best mindset every day is important to me. I wanted to help spread awareness to the Quinnipiac campus as well as my teammates and other athletes on campus.”

Student ambassadors further organize and host events to spread the word and organization.

“It’s all by word of mouth and our social media presence,” Thomas said. “A lot of it comes from ‘I heard about this organization from a dedication game.’ It’s one of our most popular events that our campus ambassadors host, and then kind of breaks out.”

As of September 2024, Quinnipiac is one of 622 college campuses that Morgan’s Message has reached. Quinnipiac has 11 student ambassadors on various teams including; men’s club rugby, women’s rugby, field hockey, softball, track and field, women’s club volleyball and men’s basketball.

As a part of Morgan’s Message, Quinnipiac student ambassadors host various dedication games and events to spread awareness of student-athlete mental health.

“We had stickers and bracelets that we wore on our equipment to represent her and the butterfly and the logo that kind of represents Morgan’s Message,” Shanahan said of a recent field hockey dedication game on Sept. 20. 

Morgan’s Message has reached 1,918 high schools and college campuses across the United States, as well as Canada, England, Germany and Norway with 5,970 student ambassadors.

Any student athlete in high school or college playing at any level can apply to be a student ambassador through the Morgan Message website.

“It’s important that people feel they’re supported, and regardless if you know they’re injured or if they may seem perfectly fine … it’s important that people are checked on, and mental health awareness is something that should not be taken lightly,” Shanahan said.