REXBURG — An Idaho professor is creating a mental health support group for male college students.
Perry Rockwood is an adjunct professor in the communication department at Brigham Young University-Idaho. He has been at the college since Fall 2022. He started a project and is calling it "Burg Brotherhood."
"I'm going to invite a bunch of my male students that I've had throughout my time at BYU-Idaho. Please bring a roommate or a friend. I'm ready and willing for it to be as big as it can be," Rockwood said.
The first meeting is on Wednesday, June 11, at 7 p.m. at the Jacob Spori Building, room 271. The group will meet monthly for training sessions centered on personal development and mental and emotional health.
He explained the reasoning behind creating it.
"It all just started my first semester being a teacher. I was teaching public speaking. I actually had a student who attempted taking their own life, and I have never been in a situation before where I knew someone firsthand who has struggled with that or had tried to do that," Rockwood said. "It really just shook me, and I didn't know what I could've done differently or kind of what my role with that was."
Since that semester, Rockwood promised himself that he would always do his part to check in on his students. It made him think of an assignment, which he now does every week. It's called the mental health check.
"You just give me either a green, yellow, or red color. Green, meaning things are going good, I'm feeling good with my mental health. Yellow, meaning you're in the middle. There are some good things, some bad things. Then red, meaning I need help, and it's more than just a few bad things are happening," Rockwood said.
He has completed this assignment in the past few years and told EastIdahoNews.com that he has noticed many students are struggling.
"One thing that's really stood out to me that was eye-opening on top of the number of students who are consistently in the yellow and in the red, is that it's mostly a majority of male students who find themselves in the red more," Rockwood said. "I don't try to give them advice. It's more that I'm here to listen and to be here for you and if you need me to do anything, I can."
There are actually a lot of people in the same stage of life going through the same thing: going to college, thinking about marriage, family, providing, and all that stuff. So that's kind of where Burg Brotherhood came to be.
–Perry Rockwood
After that wake-up call, Rockwood wanted to create a space for them so that they weren't alone in the "red."
"There are actually a lot of people in the same stage of life going through the same thing: going to college, thinking about marriage, family, providing, and all that stuff. So that's kind of where Burg Brotherhood came to be," he said.
The monthly meeting will last one hour. Guest speakers will also be present, and there will be a monthly service project in the Rexburg community.
Below is the mission statement:
"Burg Brotherhood supports, uplifts, and inspires men by building a Christ-centered community. Guided by the teachings of Jesus Christ, we encourage each member to be a brother's keeper, offering faith, compassion, and mutual support to strengthen one another and foster resilience and unity."
Rockwood will set up an Instagram with regularly published content, and all the "brothers" will be part of a group chat with weekly check-ins and challenges.
"I'll share a verse or a quote of the week, a healthy recipe of the week, and a gym workout of the week. Just ways to help them focus that anxiety and that depression into healthy things and knowing that they have a support group that's not just there for them once a month when we meet, but they have access to them all the time," he said.
Rockwood explained that growing up, he lived in a house where mental health was never really talked about. He used to look at people who said they had anxiety or depression as an excuse. But he learned he was uninformed and didn't understand it.
It wasn't until he and his wife, Brooke, wanted to start a family together that he soon felt something he hadn't before. They experienced two miscarriages, which were devastating.
"It was earth-shattering and it was the first time in my life that I had felt those feelings of deep depression … like questioning, what my purpose is and why you know, God is taking this away from us and just feeling those feelings that I thought were always just an excuse," he said. "I was like, wow, this is a real thing, and people really go through this."
He said that through the experiences, the best part was people being there for them.
"When people say they're struggling, just saying, 'I'm here for you. I'm here if you need anything. I'll be a listening ear. I love you. I care about you. I might not understand what you're going through but just know I'm here,'" he said.
Rockwood added that he is not a mental health professional by any means, but he consistently makes an intentional effort to ask people how they are doing.
He hopes the Burg Brotherhood can be a place where people can understand that not everyone is perfect emotionally and mentally, and that's OK.
"I still think there's a stigma where if you're seeing a therapist, that means there's something wrong with you, when it's like, everybody has a doctor and they have regular annual check-ins. Why would it be any different for our mental and emotional state?" he said.
