Breanne Mellen, suicide prevention program co-ordinator for the Canadian Mental Health Association, speaks to the Medicine Hat Cubs on the second day of their main camp.--NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Cubs are starting their season with a strong message: know when to ask for help.
On the second day of the Cubs’ main camp, the team hosted a mental health seminar for all players and staff. The seminar, put on by the Canadian Mental Health Association, was the idea of head coach Randy Wong and the team’s board.
“We just felt that we could make it part of our program, and from knowing some of the players from the past, I think it was an easy one to tag our team to and show our support to Canadian Mental Health,” Wong said.
The focus of the session was centred on knowing when to ask for help, who to ask and how to help others. This message came from the sudden passing of seven men last year in Medicine Hat as a result of suicide. Four of them were former Cubs players.
Wong, who had connections with the four former Cubs and their families, says the shock of their passing shows people don’t always know how to ask for help.
“These young kids, young men really, think they are older than what they really are,” Wong said. “Inside, if they are fighting things, having negative thoughts, they don’t know who to go to. Is it your best friend? Is it your family doctor, is it your parents? So certainly this was to bring awareness that there is some outside help.”
Breanne Mellen, suicide prevention program co-ordinator for CMHA, spoke at the seminar, offering a message.
“You don’t have to do it on your own, reach out when you need it,” she said.
Mellen took the Cubs through an exercise of writing down signs that showed them someone was having a bad day. After explaining mental health symptoms and how to recognize them, she had players look at their lists again and pick out which ones could be a symptom of mental health issues.
For Cubs captain Levi Schlosser, the exercise, and seminar as a whole, was a learning experience he plans on acting upon from now on.
“With everything that went on I think it was definitely an eye opener,” he said. “I think if I notice if a guy is struggling or having a bad day, it’ll really help me out a lot in that aspect.”
Mellen also spoke on the CMHA’s other programs, ‘Buddy up’ and ‘Talk Today’, which are targeted toward helping men and those in sports deal with mental health issues. The Buddy up program is for men to open up with other men and talk about their problems. Talk Today aims to promote the mental health of young athletes and spread awareness on the benefits of positive mental health throughout communities across Canada.
For Mellen, being invited to speak at Cubs’ camp and seeing players taking this step was encouraging.
“It’s always really heartening for me to see a hockey player or to see a hockey coach come to me and say, ‘Hey, my guys need to talk. They need this information,'” she said. “It’s that different sector that I’m breaking into, and there has been a lot of focus on mental health in sports recently as well, which drives us to talk about it more.
“It’s really nice to see.”
As for the Cubs, Wong says they are planning to have one or two more mental health presentations throughout the season once the team is put together, and he sees the talks continuing annually.
The team could have waited until the roster was set to begin these presentations but Wong says they want the message out to as many athletes as possible.
“I think it was important even for the players that don’t make the team this year,” Wong said. “We’re about trying to help everybody we can. We had an avenue to help out more than just 20 guys … if one of those guys that don’t make the team is struggling, they have the information now as well.
“Really it’s just getting that information out there, being open and willing to talk about mental health.”
The Cubs have not set a date yet but a memorial game is being planned for December for the four former players, and they will be asking the community to pack the Kinplex in support.
“We’ll pay our respects to those four players – we want to make sure we honour them properly. We really haven’t had a chance to do that yet, and certainly (we’ll) show our support back to Canadian Mental Health at the same time.”
Anyone seeking assistance or information regarding the topic of suicide can contact the Distress Centre at 403-266-4357, Health Link at 811, the Alberta Mental Health Helpline at 1-877-303-2642, or Kids Help Phone by calling or texting “connect” to 1-800-668-6868.
