Through her story of loss and resilience, UW freshman hopes to help others ‘find their light in their darkness’

A few weeks ago, University of Wisconsin–Madison freshman Brooke Brennan returned to her hometown for an event close to her heart.

For a second year, the girls’ hockey team at Hayward High School, in northern Wisconsin, remembered those lost to suicide by honoring them during a game. The crowd observed a moment of silence, and hockey players from both teams added names to a banner in the lobby of loved ones who had died by suicide. Many people in the crowd wore T-shirts that read “Your Life Matters.”

Brennan, who helped start the tradition as a senior hockey player, addressed her alma mater’s crowd, sharing that her mother had died by suicide when Brennan was 8 years old.

Brennan’s personal experiences drive her efforts to prevent suicide and eliminate stigma around mental health issues. Her work has had a lasting impact at her high school, and she now brings the same passion to UW–Madison, where she is a pre-nursing student.

“I think my story is about finding your light in your darkness,” Brennan says. “A lot of people would have shut down after what happened to my family. It’s made me the person I am today. I feel it’s important for me to share my story because others might be changed by it.”

It’s a remarkable story of financial and emotional resilience, of safety nets and support networks, and of wanting to pay it forward.

Overcoming financial insecurity

One element of that story, Brennan says, is how she came to attend UW–Madison. Her mother’s death upended her family’s stability and financial security, raising questions about Brennan’s ability to afford college. She was accepted to multiple universities, including the University of Notre Dame, but only UW–Madison offered a financial aid package that made attending college realistic.

Brennan’s college costs are being covered by Bucky’s Pell Pathway, named for the university’s beloved mascot. The initiative, now in its second year, is designed to assist Badgers from low-income Wisconsin households. It pledges to meet the full financial need without loans for incoming first-year students for four consecutive years and for transfer students for two consecutive years. In most cases, it covers tuition and fees, housing expenses, food, required course material, travel and other miscellaneous costs.

“My life was very hard and very stressful growing up,” Brennan says. “It has been such a relief to not have to worry about paying for college after everything I’ve gone through already.”

Confronting the emotional pain

Brennan says she was always “mommy’s little girl,” shadowing her everywhere.

“I wanted to walk wherever she walked. I followed my mom from church to church as she sought God. I never thought about there being a deeper reason. Years later, I realized she was looking for the last light in her darkness of depression.”

After her mother’s death, the family moved from the Northwest to Wisconsin to start anew. Hayward is in northwestern Sawyer County in the heart of Wisconsin’s Northwoods.

Well-meaning family members encouraged Brennan to tell people that her mother had died in a car accident. It was easier that way — and a way to escape the shame that people too often and wrongly assign to families touched by suicide, Brennan says.

As she entered her teen years, Brennan took a different approach.

“When you’re young, you try to live this perfect life, and you think everyone else is perfect,” she says. “Then you realize that no family is perfect. And so, I became more comfortable talking about my mom and how she died.”

Early on during Brennan’s high school years, the community of Hayward lost a young person to suicide. Brennan co-led an effort to design and sell suicide-awareness bracelets that said, “You’re Worth It.” The proceeds benefitted a national suicide prevention hotline.

As a senior, Brennan co-led an effort to create a logo for “Your Life Matters.” Local businesses donated money to print hundreds of T-shirts, which were then sold to students and community members. The effort raised about $1,800 for Sofia’s Squad, a nonprofit organization that provides education and awareness to improve the mental health of student-athletes.

“Brooke did all this because she thought it would be a good idea to stop the stigma around mental illness,” says Emily Stark, a math teacher at Hayward High School and the girls’ hockey coach. “She really opened the doors for more people to discuss mental health and for more people to create support systems for each other. Her legacy here is very impressive.”

Paying it forward

Brennan says she started working at age 12 and never let up, fully aware that she needed to help her family with living expenses while also saving for college. During her senior year of high school, she routinely worked 20 to 30 hours a week, often juggling multiple jobs in the food-service industry.

“I’m grateful that I have a strong work ethic,” she says. “I’m driven.”

That drive extends to academics. She graduated from high school with highest honors, a 4.0 GPA and membership in the National Honor Society. Brennan says she worked hard to get accepted to UW–Madison. Bucky’s Pell Pathway is making the financial part doable.

“It is such a gift,” she says. “I don’t think I’d be able to have as good of an experience at college without it.”

On campus, Brennan is a walk-on member of the women’s rowing team and hopes to become involved in mental health advocacy as a student–athlete. Her mother worked with special-education students as a paraprofessional. To honor her, Brennan volunteers as a math tutor at GiGi’s Playhouse Madison. The organization provides therapeutic, educational and research-driven programs to individuals of all ages with Down syndrome.

“This university is providing me with so much support,” Brennan says. “It’s important that I give back to the community in return.”

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If you’re thinking about suicide, or if you’re concerned for the well-being of someone you know, call the University Health Services 24-hour Crisis Line at 608-265-5600 (Option 9) to speak with an on-call crisis counselor. For additional information, please see the UHS Suicide Prevention and Mental Health Promotion website.  To make a financial gift in support of campus-wide suicide prevention efforts, please see this website.