Last week Bell held its second annual "Bell Let's Talk" Day in an effort to remove the stigma of mental illness and depression, particularly among men and teens. An effort led by Off The Record host and TSN staple Michael Landsberg has been mad to look at the serious issue that is depression and mental illness among athletes, something that is sadly overlooked as more and more evidence pours in that many cases of depression and mental problems among athletes go untreated until it is too late, with many cases ending up going the route of "What if."
While the day is a glorified marketing campaign for a networking company that reports $400 million in profits a quarter, the day brings the topic to the table, albeit for far too of a short timeframe for such a serious issue.
With CTE brain injuries claiming tragic ends to many athletes with a history of concussions due to mental illness side effects, most famously former San Diego Charger Junior Seau who cmmitted suicide last year, and WWE star and Canadian Chris Benoit whose CTE brain trauma proved to be a contributing facor to the grizzly and tragic murder suicide of his family, mental illness has struck us right in the face in the athletic world and we as a culture have chosen to ignore it.
As a society, we often treat mental illness like any other injury. You are sad, you take some pills and "tough it out and heal" so to speak, attempting to drown an illness and affliction that has no true magical cure. A society that in sports, prides our athletes for being "warriors" and "tough" creates a fear amongst men that talking about their problems and demons makes them weak leaves a high number in the dark to deal with their inner struggle, exasperating an already near unbearable feeling of helplessness and despair amongst the victims of something that can be emotionally crippling.
This issue does not stray far from home. Melville hockey player Andre Parker took his own life after a battle with depression and CFL special teamer and Yorkton Regional product Jordan Matechuk has been through the media circuit more than once talking about how a battle with depression and insecurity led to him abusing marijuana and anabolic steroids, ultimately ending with him getting caught with steroids after a wrong turn at the US border, a blessing in disguise as he has turned his life around for the better.
Those two examples show that it isn't an outlier when something like this comes up in the media. If you paid attention to ESPN or TSN's news ticker on any given day you will see one or two stories of a similar juncture. The epidemic is even worse amongst former athletes, cripple by injury and cast aside from the spotlight, as the case with Seau, an NFL lifer whose play at linebacker created the brain trauma that was the contributing factor in his own illness of the mind.
A positive example of talking about depression and mental illness paying dividends in the long run is the story of Joey Votto. The Cincinatti Reds first basemen from Ontario who took a leave of absence from his ballclub after going through a breakdown following the death of his father. Votto came back and by all accounts in the media through his own quotes, benefited from being open with his problems rather than hiding them out of fear. If there were a million Votto stories and one or two stories like Seau's, Benoit's, or the laundry list of athletes who have committed suicide the world would be a much better place.
Bell Let's Talk Day created a lot of valuable discussion on this topic (it has me writing this column) but one day doesn't change a society, and you can't throw money at a complex social issue and expect anything to be accomplished. It is time we change our attitude towards those who suffer from depression and mental illness. Enough tragic stories have filled our sports pages and communities, it is time for change.
