#2 Intro to Mental Health: Madison Holleran

“Never judge a book by its cover”, this is the exact phrase that described the wonderful girl Madison Holleran was. She was a standout student, a history making track star and a kind hearted young woman. Her sights were set on attending Lehigh University to play soccer but after becoming a late bloomer in the track world, the University of Pennsylvania showed interest in recruiting her. A few months later, upon starting her senior year, she committed to UPenn and was happier than ever because most of her dreams were fulfilled. Madison always had a wide network of close friends, she always had a smile on her face and was in good spirits but little did everyone know that this was only the case on the surface. The girl with such a bright future ahead of her was battling chronic depression for years because of all the pressures put on her. She was seeing a counselor but unfortunately it wasn’t enough. Despite maintaining a 3.5 GPA, performing well athletically and being on course to triple major something clicked in her mind, she reached a low point and committed suicide by jumping off a parking garage. It was determined by investigators to be planned because she left notes and gifts for her family. The North Jersey community was in complete shock and utterly devastated, she was the last person expected to do something so violent and everyone asked themselves why wasn’t she helped and why didn’t she speak up?

This case has gained a lot of attention because she was such a perfect girl but maybe striving to be too perfect? It is often discussed that if someone has mental health issues, they must stay silent because this issue is still considered to be taboo in our society. This MUST be changed, the negative stigma can no longer exist in order to prevent people from committing such horrific actions. I believe that the US government has to greatly increase the funding in the mental health field to improve our society and help people live happy, safe and successful lives. If the problems are never faced, they will not magically go away. In Madison’s case, I think that many universities that have prominent sports teams should begin to hire mental health specialists and counselors that specialize in assisting and curing the athletes. If these types of people were present and the coaches made a requirement for every student-athlete to meet with them a certain number of times, problems can be easily traced and these young men and women can stay on the right track. There are problems all around the country with the system that need to be recognized and for now I would advise anyone struggling to speak up and seek help because it can save your life.



Article: Madison Holleran