“Nothing was your own except the few cubic centimetres inside your skull.” – George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four
Last Wednesday was the annual “Bell Let’s Talk” Day in Canada, to promote awareness for mental health and mental illness. Additionally, to spur education about mental health, end the stigma of mental illness and to promote compassionate conversation, the telecommunications company encouraged people to use the #BellLetsTalk hashtag on social media. Nearly 132 million social media and text message interactions on Wednesday coupled with their pledge of 5 cents per interaction resulted in Bell donating over $6.5 million (Canadian) to mental health initiatives.
If you are struggling with mental health issues, please see this article about getting started with online therapy.
The Penguins and some of their players joined other clubs on social media to participate.
https://twitter.com/mattmurray_30/status/824325716036747265
You are strong.
You aren't broken.
No one should suffer alone.
Take time to talk about it.#BellLetsTalk #SickNotWeak— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) January 25, 2017
— David Warsofsky (@DaveWarsofsky5) January 25, 2017
— Justin Schultz (@6Schultz6) January 25, 2017
— Amanda Kessel (@AmandaKessel8) January 25, 2017
— daniel sprong (@sprong97) January 25, 2017
While the NHL re-tweeted an informative article from the Leafs’ account, the NHL and NHLPA were conspicuously silent about mental health awareness last week both on Twitter and their respective websites. Perhaps the cynical answer is that Bell is a competitor of Rogers (the national Canadian TV and online rights-holder of NHL broadcasts). But seriously, what is the NHL’s and NHLPA’s reason for not shining a light on mental health and illness, especially when several former players have taken their own lives due to chronic depression in recent years?
Yes, the NHL and NHLPA have started many worthy charitable endeavors such as Hockey Fights Cancer, NHL Green, Hockey is for Everyone and Goals & Dreams but if NHL players are hockey’s most valuable asset, why are the league and the players’ association still leaving the treatment and prevention of mental illness to individual clubs and players or only reacting to tragedy instead of being proactive?
The spring and summer of 2011 were months of grief for hockey when three players died within a 16 week period. Derek Boogaard, 28, after battling substance abuse that left him in depression, died from an overdose of prescription painkillers in mid-May. Rick Rypien, 27, committed suicide in mid-August after battling depression for ten years. Sixteen days later, Wade Belak, 35, also suffering from depression, was found dead. (Police ruled his death a suicide; his family believed he died accidentally).
All three were on-ice enforcers and in the year when Sidney Crosby’s concussion symptoms were analyzed unceasingly, most observers likewise focused on chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and the physiologic – not psychologic – damage that Boogaard, Rypien and Belak likely suffered.
Yet one couldn’t help but think then, as now, of the self-reliant hockey culture in the NHL that produces elite athletes on the ice but ultimately, may sow the seeds of self-defeat and tragedy off the ice.
Coaches and parents constantly push and motivate budding young players to work hard, put the team first, and never let your teammates down. This is reinforced at every level from bantam to junior to college to the professional ranks. Trainers in the weight room, coaches on the bench and older, veteran teammates scream standard boilerplate language over and over:
“Push yourself … if you don’t want this bad enough, a thousand others are waiting.”
“There are no quitters on this team; no weakness.”
“Play through the pain.”
Make no mistake, the values that are instilled are admirable. Relentless work ethic, selflessness, teamwork, self-motivation and perseverance despite pain, losses and exhaustion are some of the qualities that separate NHL players from the rest of us.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfR4EIhkHsQ]But when self-doubt and anxiety about staying on the roster creep into the mind, or feelings of shame, embarrassment and disappointment at repeatedly missing scoring chances, or self-loathing at losing a fight and failing to physically protect a teammate linger and replay in the mind over and over, to whom does an NHL player turn to? By default, the player silently turns inward, to himself.
“No one will care if I ask for help for my ‘mental struggles’… I have to figure this out on my own.”
“Push yourself harder. A loser is a loser; winners find a way to win. No excuses.”
Similar clichés roil through an increasingly frantic, chaotic mind again and again and again, and without even knowing it, depression sets in.
But even then, how many players dare speak up and seek outside help? What would their teammates and coaches think? Would they lose all respect for a player begging to receive time off for … for what exactly?
“Looks ok to me. Doc said nothing’s broken, no muscle tears. Nothing physical… Must be between his ears. He’s soft… not a team player, a walking disruption.”
We’ve all heard these quick, terse assessments, whether in a locker room in high school, college, or at the NHL level. Unfortunately, until the NHL and NHLPA mandate more explicit training and education, mental health conditions will be misunderstood and the self-reliant, self-defeating culture in hockey will continue to be the norm and mask an invisible scourge affecting many players, needlessly suffering in silence.
Indeed when Rypien battled depression, it was teammate Kevin Bieksa who had to reach out and rescue – for a short time – a despondent Rypien, taking him under his roof to try to help him. Meanwhile, toward the end of his life, Belak had not even told his parents about his depression, never mind his club or teammates. Perhaps a clearer protocol on mental health, analogous to the standardized concussion protocol, needs to be formulated and jointly adopted by the league and players, so that everyone knows upfront what resources are available well before a player descends into an irreversible depression, with teammates or clubs reacting far too late.
Isn’t it ironic? Hockey has reached a point where damage to the brain from outside forces are carefully scrutinized and treated but far less has been done to address and care for those with illnesses that develop from inside the mind.
Presently, CBA Article 23.7, governing personal medical benefits does not list any coverage for counselling services or medical practitioners specializing in mental health.
Furthermore, CBA Article 34.2, which sets requirements for the composition of a club’s medical staff, only compels teams to employ physicians who specialize in dealing with acute hockey injuries including concussions, not chronic conditions such as depression and anxiety disorders that would be best diagnosed by a mental health professional. As of summer 2016, six NHL teams employed staff clinicians with expertise in neuropsychology or sports psychology, but these disciplines are geared toward research or training the mind to improve on-ice performance, not diagnosing mental illness nor offering restorative therapy. Thus the onus is on players to move mental health to the top of the agenda of Joint Health and Safety Committee meetings if they truly want the NHL to be a league where qualified professionals are ready to help players both physically and mentally.
Another former NHL enforcer, Daniel Carcillo, best known in these parts for contributing to the legendary Max Talbot “Shhhhh” eight years ago, wrote a revealing piece in The Players’ Tribune about his personal battle with post-career depression as well as the circumstances leading to the premature depression-related death of his friend, former Chicago teammate Steve Montador. Carcillo highlighted the emptiness that comes from the sudden loss of purpose many NHL players experience upon retirement. “You miss the structure of hanging out with your best friends every day. When you get thrown back out into the real world, it can be lonely.”
Carcillo also confirmed the negative constraints of hockey’s self-reliant culture, noting “the unspoken sentiment is that you don’t talk about this kind of stuff in the hockey world. It can be seen as a ‘distraction’”. He started the Chapter 5 Foundation two years ago to tackle the problem directly. He wants to help players like him and Montador who struggle with anxiety and depression after their hockey careers, by helping them with continuing education, job placements and career networking.
Similarly, at the beginning of the 2016-17 season, the NHL and NHLPA took a step in the right direction by starting the Core Development Program. Like Chapter 5, one of the goals of the program is to help players make a smooth transition from their playing careers to life after hockey.
The National Institute of Mental Health states that in 2015, 6.7% of American adults (16.1 million people) had at least one major episode of depression. NHL players need to be educated that their symptoms are clearly not rare nor aberrant and most importantly, that they are not weak or failures in life for seeking help. Holding everything in only perpetuates the ill-advised cycle of self-reliance leading to self-defeat. When players are freed to feel more comfortable at speaking up about depression and mental health and know what resources they can seek out, there will be better outcomes for the sport of hockey, their clubs, their teammates, but far more importantly, for their families and the players themselves.
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