June is Men’s Mental Health Awareness Month, and what better way to spread awareness than with the Burg Brotherhood, a new local men’s mental health group.
Perry Rockwood, the creator of the group, is also the Public Affairs communication manager and a BYU-Idaho adjunct professor in the Communication Department. Rockwood was teaching a public speaking class when he was informed that one of his students was severely struggling with their mental health.
“Ever since then, I have made it my own personal mission and goal with all of my students to always check on their mental health,” Rockwood said.
Rockwood started to do weekly mental health check-ups with his students, which led him to the discovery that most of his students who were struggling were men.
“I was surprised to find out that a majority of students that are struggling or at least telling me and being honest that they are struggling, are male students,” Rockwood said. “And I feel like that’s something that’s not talked about at all. I mean mental health isn’t really talked about enough, but especially males.”
This discovery led him to the creation of the student-focused group, the Burg Brotherhood.
“That’s kind of why I wanted to start Burg Brotherhood, because I saw that there are a lot of male students silently struggling who feel like they’re alone and they don’t have anybody else who’s going through the same things they are, where I see that there are multiple people going through the same things in each class I have,” Rockwood said.
He created the Burg Brotherhood not to have a therapy session, but a group where someone can go to find friendship and support.
“I think of the scripture, be your brother’s keeper,” Rockwood said. “I just want a support system for male students on this campus of like strong males who support and uplift each other and don’t tear each other down. And I just wanted to be like the avenue to kind of direct and give them the opportunity to meet.”
The Burg Brotherhood will meet once a month to not only talk about how to best take care of personal mental health, but to also do leadership trainings. Rockwood is also looking forward to doing monthly service projects and to create a group chat with members to celebrate wins together and to connect.
To learn more about the Burg Brotherhood and to join in on their next meeting, you can contact Rockwood at perrywrockwood@gmail.com.