Morgan Rodgers is a special person. She was kind, full of smiles, and very athletic - she played women’s lacrosse at Duke University and was my lacrosse coach for many summers. We all looked up to Morgan, but unfortunately, had no idea what she was dealing with on the inside. In 2019, she died by suicide at the age of 22.

In the months following her passing, friends and family came together to form “Morgan’s Message,” a coalition and program formed to “amplify stories, resources and expertise to strengthen student-athlete mental health, build a community by and for athletes through peer-to-peer conversations and provide a platform for advocacy.”

Many of my friends soon became ambassadors, and news about Morgan’s Message and Morgan’s story spread like a wildfire across the United States. Inspired by the program, I got the chance to sit down with Morgan’s Message co-founder Meaghan Birnie to hear more of how the program came to be and intends to impact the world in coming years.