"You see sports figures all the time coming out, talking about their anxiety or their stress, sharing their experience with mental health with everyone," Leafs winger Zach Hyman said in late January. "I think it's more accepted now that everybody goes through times of doubt, and some more than others. It's just a part of life, and if you need help there's more access to it now. So I think it's a good thing."
"The conversation has been started, and people have a better idea of what mental health is," added Leafs forward Connor Brown. "It is an illness, and it needs to be dealt with. People in the spotlight, like celebrities and athletes, speaking out holds a lot of weight in the community, and so it's great to see the initiative everyone has taken."
Every person endures difficult days and moments of real suffering, and that's been underscored by the annual Bell Let's Talk event, one in which the communications giant donates five cents for every mention of the #BellLetsTalk hashtag on Twitter or official video views on Facebok and Instagram. Mary Deacon, Chair of the Bell Let's Talk mental health initiative, said in December that this year's Bell Let's Talk Day could push the all-time total messages of support to more than one billion, resulting in Bell donating more than $100 million to mental health causes since the initiative began in 2011.
Being open about your vulnerabilities - and maybe your toughest days - is part of what Bell's Let's Talk Day is all about. Professional hockey players are renowned for their ability to shake off injuries and vulnerability to push forward competitively, but, thanks in part to the annual social media awareness initiative, those same athletes are far more willing to come to terms with injuries to, and diseases of, the mind.
"You hear about guys stepping away (from the game) for different things, but you don't know what goes on behind the scenes," Brown said. "You might think a guy is just down, but often times there's a lot more to it. So that's how far our society's come, just understanding that there's more to it - and you have to address the problem, just as you'd address a broken leg."
