‘We are here’: Student-athletes raise awareness of the importance of mental health at soccer game

NITRO, W.Va. (WSAZ) - Two high schools teamed up to help kick the stigma of mental health in Kanawha County.

“I think it shows a message to everyone involved that we are here to support them and whatever they’re going through, they can get through it,” junior and soccer player at Nitro High School Charlotte Lawson said.

Lawson says she approached her soccer coach to do this after she got involved with Morgan’s Message in the summer.

Morgan’s Message is a nonprofit that “strives to eliminate the stigma surrounding mental health within the student-athlete community and equalize the treatment of physical and mental health in athletics.”

“My St. Albans lacrosse coach showed me what Morgan’s message was,” Lawson said. “Well, she, Morgan, was a lacrosse player for Duke, so she was a student-athlete, as well. And I relate myself to that because I know how that can be on someone.”

Nitro and Herbert Hoover High School boys and girls soccer teams dedicated their match to student-athlete mental health Thursday. This comes after Kanawha County Schools says more than one teen has died by suicide during the past year.

“We’ve had many classmates affected by mental health,” Lawson said. “I think my whole school even knew that we had to do something about it.”

For Kennedy Kelly, a soccer player and senior for the Huskies, said this hits close to home, so able to support mental health means the world.

“And just having a sports community that will come together and bring this message across just helps people who really need it,” Kelly said.

They say Morgan’s message, the Nitro High School Student Council, and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, came to highlight the importance of early support, open conversation, reduce the stigma and to give resources to kids.

“It’s not a weakness to show how you feel. It’s a strength that you are opening up and talking to people,” Lawson said.

They say they hope to make it an annual tradition.