Junior Kate Weller knows how injuries can impact any athlete.
“I think a lot of people see themselves just as an athlete, and when they get hurt they struggle to find things that bring them joy,” Weller said.
It is for this reason Weller became an ambassador for Morgan’s Message.
In the Fall of 2014 Morgan Rodgers, from Warrenton Virginia, was accepted to Duke University to continue her athletic lacrosse career playing at the highest collegiate level.
Prior to her injury, Morgan had struggled with mental health but she always had a support team and people in her corner to help her at the time.
In 2017, before her sophomore season began, she had a life changing injury that every athlete dreads: she blew out her knee.
After a year of surgery and recovery, Morgan was insistent on returning back to the field to play the sport she loved—or so everyone thought.
While Morgan came off with a strong front, no one knew the mental struggles she was really dealing with.
Morgan committed suicide on July 11, 2019.
Morgan’s Message was started by her family in hope of sharing Morgan’s story and preventing this from happening to any other athlete.
Morgan’s message is a non-profit organization that raises money towards furthering their mission of “continuing to take a shot against the stigmatization of student-athlete mental health.”
This organization offers a variety of different resources and a mental health team that includes therapists, physical therapists, sports nutritionists and healthcare educators.
They all strive for the common goal of helping any athlete with mental health issues they face on and off the field.
In addition to being an athlete Morgan was also an artist. She used an art technique called Mandala which is a type of art therapy that can help reduce anxiety and stress.
Morgan’s Message offers an ambassador program with open applications. Ambassadors are able to spread their mission to their school or team.
Weller became an ambassador in the fall of 2024, and is the founder of Morgan’s Message Club.
“As an ambassador, I lead our club every B club rotation and in that we do activities that just talk about the different aspects of mental health,” Weller said.
Weller wanted to become an ambassador to shed light on mental health here at Valley.
Along with running the club Weller additionally organized a tribute lacrosse game where players wore blue ribbons and had the butterfly emblem tattooed onto their arms.
For anyone struggling with mental health, reach out to the unified mental health team here at Valley for check out Morgan’s Message resources for help.
Suicide hotline: 988 call or text
National Mental Health Hotline: 866-903-3787
