INDIANAPOLIS – According to NAMI, 1 in 5 adults experience a mental illness every year and many others often find it hard to talk about mental health.
Talking about mental health is what the Indianapolis Colts' Kicking the Stigmacampaign is all about.
“It really started with how to take away that fear and shame to talk about anything surrounding mental health,” Kalen Jackson, Indianapolis Colts Vice Chairwoman and Owner, told WRTV.
WATCH: KALEN JACKSON TALKS ABOUT THE KICKING THE STIGMA CAMPAIGN
“I will say that of all the things we have done since we have come here in ’84, this – out of all the things – this has been the most impactful and the most we have heard from our fans.”
— Kalen Jackson, Indianapolis Colts vice chair/owner
The campaign was started in 2020, led by the Jim Irsay family.
“Really helps us spread the word, get people more acquainted with and ready to deal with any mental health crisis,” Indiana University Bloomington Professor of Sociology Bernice Pescosolido told WRTV.
Indiana University’s Irsay Institute works on tackling the stigma head on through research.
“To reach kids where they are – in the schools in the community settings is what the Kicking the Stigma grant has helped to do,” Theresa Brun, CFRM, Brooke’s Place Executive Director said.
Brooke’s Placelooks to provide families and children with resources they need to overcome a loss of a family member.
“It’s a place of belonging – that it’s okay to talk about these things,” Rachel Morris told WRTV.
Morris is working to inspire the next generation inside Stout Field Elementary School in Wayne Township. She is also mother who is working to overcome adversity, after she lost her husband and her best friend, 7 years ago.
“He had an infection, he had some heart disease that we didn’t know about, and he was gone,” Morris told WRTV.
Morris says she and her family found Brooke’s Place. Now 7 years later, she is working to give back, by bringing Brooke’s Place into her community.
“It was important for me to bridge the gap and bring those supports to a place and a community that didn’t have resources or have access to it,” Morris concluded.
For more information on Brooke’s Place click here.
For more information on Kicking the Stigma click here.
