[ad_1]
Green Level High School will take on Panther Creek High School on the football field in a big rivalry matchup Friday night. But football will not be the main focus.
It is the second annual Mental Health Awareness Football game, an initiative led by Green Level’s football team captains, to confront stigma and spark honest conversations around mental health.
“If one person can be helped by this it’s important,” says Green Level senior linebacker Jackson Evans.
Evans told WRAL he felt compelled to carry on the effort this year after his former teammate, Austin Conway, graduated.
“He did a lot of this by himself,” says Evans. “He made the shirts. I saw this, and I was like, ‘I wanna continue doing this.”
Evans and his teammates are partnering with the National Alliance of Mental Illness Wake County (NAMI) to spread the message. NAMI is the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization, offering free programming and resources to support individuals and families affected by mental illness.
“We don’t want students suffering in silence,” says Green Level Dean of Students Hamilton Roberts. “That’s the whole movement of NAMI and what Jackson [Evans] and his football team have really brought to the whole school and this game.”
As Green Level High School’s lead counselor, Roberts says she sees first-hand the struggles that students deal with on a daily basis.
“With the world the way it is, with social media, with the pressures here at our school in particular, it is something that is only increasing,” Roberts says.
In partnership with NAMI, Evans and his teammates designed a black and white t-shirt for fans to wear during the game. The team sported the shirts during the school’s pep rally Friday afternoon.
“The shirt can mean something,” Roberts told WRAL. “It starts a conversation.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with mental illness, call the NAMI Wake County hotline at 919-848-4490 or text “NAMI” to 741741 for 24/7, confidential, free crisis counseling. More resources can be found at www.nami.org.
[ad_2]