As Sewickley Academy's Lauren Retzlaff scrolled Instagram one day, she saw a post from Morgan's Message, an organization that up until that moment, she didn't know about.
“I was instantly drawn to it, as an athlete who has struggled some mental issues myself due to injuries,” she says.
It's dedicated to Morgan Rogers, a lacrosse player at Duke who suffered a catastrophic knee injury her sophomore season. The mental burden of recovery grew to unbearable anxiety and depression. Morgan died by suicide in 2019 at just 22-year-old.
Morgan's Message is now dedicated to helping students athletes address their mental health, an issue that Lauren feels is impacting more people each day.
“It’s very heartbreaking and it’s very sad that we don’t have a system of awareness around that,” she says. “I think there is growing awareness toward that.”
Lauren knows a similar struggle first-hand. A lacrosse player herself, she's had a history with concussions. The most recent included 18 months of symptoms and recovery.
“These horrible headaches, I had eye issues,” she says. “I had all these types of therapies, going to doctors appointments every week. It was, overall, just a very mentally draining process. I developed some anxiety and I didn’t feel like myself.”
Now grateful to be on the other side of the adversity, Lauren wants to make sure others at her school dealing with similar issues have a place to go. She's bringing a chapter of Morgan's Message to Sewickley Academy this fall.
“Even if they’re an athlete or not, just a system of a space where they can feel comfortable to talk about tough topics, and just feeling like they’re not alone,” she says.
All in the hopes the program far outlasts her time at Sewickley Academy, and can be even a drop in the bucket in the fight against a growing mental health crisis.
“Continue to talk about these mental health perceptions,” she says. “It can save people’s lives and help them feel like they’re not alone.”