NE10 40th Anniversary Home Page

The impetus for Hope Happens Here's creation has been well documented. During a car ride through Boston traffic, Saint Michael's College men's ice hockey teammates Danny Divis '17 and Justin McKenzie '17 were processing thoughts and feelings about McKenzie's friend, a University of Pennsylvania student-athlete who had recently taken his own life, and Divis' own struggles with mental health. 

Seeds for HHH were planted during that 2015 conversation, leading to new channels of communication and support for students, particularly student-athletes, to focus on their own mental health and destigmatize discussing the topic. Thanks to these efforts, Divis and McKenzie, whose initial HHH group at Saint Michael's has grown to include chapters at more than two dozen colleges and high schools, won the 2017 Hockey Humanitarian Award, a feat which has been named one of the 40 iconic moments in the 40-year history of the Northeast-10 Conference. 

"My experience up until that point was that most, if not all, student-athletes did not want to talk about their mental health, especially male hockey players," said Purple Knight men's ice hockey head coach Damian DiGiulian. "This stigma of being too tough to talk about your feelings or wanting to handle your problems on your own was and continues to be really prevalent in our sport. It's getting better thanks to folks like Dan and Justin, but it's still there, for sure. It was never something that was openly discussed." 

In addition to 16 Vermont high schools starting chapters, fellow NE10 institutions American International College, Franklin Pierce University, University of New Haven, Saint Anselm College, The College of Saint Rose, Southern Connecticut State University, Southern New Hampshire University and Stonehill College sponsor chapters. While their impact has clearly spread far from campus, Divis and McKenzie have left an indelible legacy at their alma mater to those who know them and have followed in their footsteps. 

"It was amazing to me, especially since I was teaching a Men & Masculinities course at the College, to have male student-athletes - and hockey players, to boot - who were about to blow all stereotypes clean out of the water," said former Faculty Athletics Representative and long-time psychology professor Dr. Dave Landers. "This was not something male student-athletes, or athletes in general, were doing."

Saint Michael's HHH tri-chair Erin Mikson, a women's lacrosse senior, lost her rookie year to injury before suffering a concussion as a sophomore. Aside from the physical setbacks, she dealt with the private mental challenges, only coming to terms with the impact near the end of her sophomore year. Upon joining the executive board, Mikson began exploring her own struggles.

"I built up the courage and applied for the media relations position (as a sophomore)," said Mikson. "After going to the first couple of meetings, Hope Happens Here absolutely opened my eyes to mental health. I learned that it is okay to not be okay and that reaching out for help doesn't make you weak, it makes you stronger. The Hope Happens Here community was such a safe and comfortable environment, and for the first time I didn't feel like an outlier because I suffered with anxiety and depression. I learned that it was actually normal to have these feelings." 

Following their return to campus after that momentous car ride in 2015, Divis and McKenzie were encouraged to bring the topic of mental health awareness to Saint Michael's by such figures as DiGiulian, Landers, Director of Athletics Chris Kenny '86, Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) Adviser/women's basketball head coach Shannon Bollhardt and Assistant Dean of Students/Title IX Coordinator Catherine Welch '10. 

"I just encouraged them to meet with as many people as they could, ask a lot of questions and go for it, really," said DiGiulian. "As their coach, I really just stepped back and let them run with it." Landers added, "I was so proud of them both, knowing how hard they had each worked, not only from their own perspective, but in getting so many other students, both athletes and non-athletes alike, to get involved in this amazing program." 

HHH gained traction during their junior years, as posters with mental health awareness facts and contacts were placed in locker rooms, T-shirts emblazoned with HHH slogan "You Are Loved" became popular on campus, and events such as Pie-A-Purple Knight raised the organization's profile. Divis and McKenzie spoke at a local high school and brought their initiative over to the University of Vermont SAAC. By April 2017, their hard work had made them the first co-winners of the prestigious Hockey Humanitarian Award, presented to college hockey's finest citizens. 

Upon learning they had won the award, McKenzie said, "It's surreal to see where Hope Happens Here has led us. I couldn't be more thankful to team up with Dan to make a difference in mental health, something we have both been affected by in one way or another. To have his support after losing a friend to suicide, and the support of the rest of our team and community as it continued to grow, has been overwhelming." Divis noted that while the honor was immense, they had not established HHH intending to gain recognition. "From the start, it has been about starting an important conversation, and now we can hopefully get to see this conversation happen on a much broader scale." 

The subsequent media attention certainly aided that cause. After being honored at an awards ceremony in Chicago, Divis and McKenzie were interviewed live on ESPN during the Division I Frozen Four. They had their own feature stories in the NCAA's Champion magazine and on U.S. College Hockey Online (USCHO). They were quoted in a USA TODAY story, and HHH was later featured on the cover of a fall 2018 issue of Athletic Management magazine. Divis and McKenzie even threw out the first pitch at a Boston Red Sox game in August 2017 after being interviewed about HHH on the New England Sports Network (NESN). 

"Man, that was a fun weekend in Chicago at the Frozen Four," said DiGiulian. "One of the best parts about it was that I was able to take my son, and he was able to see what a tremendous impact these two guys had on the entire hockey community. It is really amazing to see where the conversation around mental health has come since HHH became known. Quite frankly, HHH has really changed the way the entire college athletics community has thought about and attacked the issue of mental health awareness, which is quite something. Justin and Dan, along with people like Trae Bell-Haynes and Kelly Lennon over at UVM and some pro athletes like Kevin Love, have really done a wonderful job in making one's individual mental health a priority. Their legacy will last forever in this field, and we are just so happy that their initiative has helped so many people deal with this incredibly important issue." 

Landers concurred. "Their legacy, which they currently most likely don't understand, is that their work has saved lives. HHH has so impacted so many high schools in Vermont and colleges and universities across this country that we will never know how many lives have been saved, nor how many people have been given permission to effectively deal with their mental health challenges." 

Nearly four years after graduating from Saint Michael's, both Divis and McKenzie remain involved with the national HHH organization as co-CEOs. A Pennsylvania native and well-decorated student-athlete in his time wearing Purple and Gold, Divis is working toward finishing law school in New Hampshire. McKenzie, an academic standout and blue-collar forward on the ice, is a software engineer in his native New Jersey.

Mikson recognizes the impact Divis and McKenzie continue to make at their alma mater. "I think this year especially showed the world just how important mental health is. With the platform Danny and Justin created through Hope Happens Here, at Saint Mike's we were able to spread awareness about mental health virtually through photos and videos on Instagram, virtual 5Ks, motivational speakers on Zoom, and so much more. They have without a doubt changed not only my views, but so many other college and high school athletes' views, about mental health. I personally can't thank them enough for creating an organization that spreads awareness and aims to break the negative stigma around mental health. It brings me so much pride knowing Hope Happens Here started at Saint Mike's."

Hockey Humanitarian Award Links of Note:

• Hope Happens Here website
• NCAA Champion Magazine piece on HHH
• NCAA.com article on award
• USCHO.com article on award