Club Gets ‘Morgan’s Message’ on Mental Health Awareness, Support Out to Campus

If Abby Guasconi had her way, there would be no need to recognize September as Suicide Prevention Awareness Month because mental health would be on everyone’s radar every day.

The junior fitness and wellness leadership major from Ogdensburg, N.Y., is president of the local chapter of Morgan’s Message, an organization on campus and across the country that at its core advocates for student-athletes’ physical and mental health.

The organization, founded in memory of Duke University lacrosse player Morgan Rodgers, who died by suicide in July 2019 at the age of 22, empowers student-athletes to speak up, support one another and normalize conversations around mental health.

But at SUNY Plattsburgh and elsewhere, Guasconi wants the message to extend beyond athletics.

“There’s a stigma around athletes,” said Guasconi, a member of the university’s women’s lacrosse team. “They’re perceived as being stronger, tougher, that they can handle things better than the typical non-athlete student can.

“Most athletes want to fight their own battles — they might not want to reach out for help, not realizing they have problems with their mental health,” she said.

Anna Bissell is the club’s faculty adviser and coach of the Cardinals women’s lacrosse team.

“Student-athletes have been conditioned to ‘suck it up and be tough,’ but being a student-athlete is like working two full-time jobs,” Bissell said. They’re athletes with all that entails, and they’re students, with all that entails, she said.

“They also have social lives. And in any of those areas is the pressure of failure,” Bissell said. “Morgan’s Message gives student-athletes the tools to open up, to find resources.”

These pressures can take a toll on mental health, said Sarah Erno, wellness and health promotion coordinator.

“Athletes have a responsibility on field and off, but to always be expected to perform at your best is added stress,” Erno said.

Peer-to-Peer Support

By normalizing conversations and providing peer-to-peer support, Morgan’s Message has created a community where athletes can feel less alone.

“Peer-to-peer support is so important, but it’s also awesome because you’re looking at someone across from you — they may be same age, same year, maybe even with the same issues — and you think, ‘If they can do it, I can  do it.’”

“A lot of students never admit they need help; they’ve never reached out for help,” Guasconi said. “They’re supposed to be stronger.”

Bissell pointed out that social media adds another layer, “another ripple.”

“When people post on social media, they make their lives look perfect, but you don’t know what happens behind closed doors. Morgan’s Message brings awareness to different levels. Mental health is a struggle — it is more pervasive than people may realize,” she said.

‘We Support You’

“Which is why Morgan’s Message can belong to everybody,” Erno said. “Morgan was an athlete, but she was also a student. With this organization structured as a club on a college campus, it says, ‘We have a space for you, and we support you.’”

Guasconi said that at monthly meetings, officers — including Vice President Ellie Graney, who staffed the Morgan’s Message table during Thrive Fest — give members discussion topics as well as tools to combat the issues being discussed.

“Morgan’s Message (nationally) does a really good job creating the curricula for each meeting,” Guasconi said.

Here at SUNY Plattsburgh, Morgan’s Message became a club four years ago. Guasconi was introduced to the organization by a former lacrosse teammate, Rachel LaMar, a 2025 grad, who founded the local chapter.

Way to Expand to Student Body

“I’d always heard of Morgan’s Message from playing lacrosse, and I’d noticed she’d started the club,” Guasconi said. “Once I came here, I thought, ‘I want to be a part of this.’ There are monthly meetings and dedication games where many of our sports teams participate by dedicating a game to Morgan’s Message. It’s a way for awareness to be spread out to the different sports but also a way to expand to the whole student body.”

Students who are interested in starting a chapter apply to become Morgan’s Message ambassadors. As of 2026, the organization had more than 1,850 campuses with chapters.

“We participate in a group chat with ambassadors across the country where we all bounce ideas off one another,” Guasconi said.

She herself had a personal connection with mental health, sharing that her younger sister struggled in the past.

“It was hard for me to help her,” she said. “This is a way for me to help other people.”

That is what motivates Guasconi to want to reach out to all students, not only those play sports.

“No one should feel like they’re alone,” she said.

“There are so many resources available,” Bissell said. “That’s one of the best things about being in college — the number of resources that help you connect with others who can help you learn how to understand your mental health and continue that past graduation.”

For more information on the SUNY Plattsburgh chapter of Morgan’s Message, contact Bissell at 518-564-4127 or email [email protected]. For available resources, contact Erno at 518-564-4830 or email [email protected].

— Story, Photo by Associate Director of Communications Gerianne Downs