- In sports, in hockey, there's this mindset
that we've come to adapt to where it's all about being
mentally strong and not showing weakness.
My only input on that is it's not a weakness.
For me, just accepting and saying out loud
that I was diagnosed with depression
and had a mental health issue,
that was the first weight off my shoulders.
It was my second year pro.
Starts off as, "Shake yourself out of it,
"it's just a bad day."
It seemed to slowly build up and get lower and lower,
and it would get to the point where I can't find the energy
to get out of bed, get to the rink.
In those times it gets more and more frustrating.
My girlfriend was the one who kept pushing me
to go see someone.
I'm thankful for that.
It was a hard back and forth before I went and did it.
Went in, saw a psychologist, and was officially diagnosed
with anxiety and depression.
I've come to accept that it's something I'll deal with
the rest of my life, but I still have the ability
to influence it.
There are many things that I've noticed that have helped,
from reading books, maintaining social experiences,
still getting outside, having dinner with friends,
phone calls, things like that.
We have our mental skills coach with the team, Alex,
who I meet with more regularly now,
as well as outside counseling.
So instead of it being one to two weeks,
it's days, it's hours.
It's still it's own animal, in a sense,
where you don't exactly know.
The hardest part for me was coming to accept it,
because I didn't want to be treated differently,
or looked at differently.
But at the same time, I think sometimes having
those around you know and understand
can help you push through.
Since then, it's been good.
My parents have been good.
My brother's my only sibling;
he's been good as well.
Just having them know that there is something
going on with me, and that there's nothing to worry about,
but it is something that I deal with,
does take weight off your shoulders.
- [Interviewer] Are you nervous to share this story with us,
and the world, and your teammates?
- Yeah, a little bit.
It's not necessarily about telling my story.
It's to help that one person or those handful of people
that need to know they're not alone in it.
I love the group of guys that we have here,
so I'm not worried about judgment or change of action
from them towards me.
The support of individuals, teams, communities,
I think the stigma is going to shrink drastically,
or turned into opportunity where people can come
to fully understand what some people go through.
I think that's really the purpose of Hockey Talks.
There's people that always going through things
that you may not know or understand,
but there's always something
that you may be able to do to help,
and this is just my way of hoping that I can influence
someone in a positive way.