We’ve all seen the photos and videos of the Owen Sound Attack players making their annual school visits to face off in a friendly floor hockey match against local students. But did you know these visits are actually a chance for the players to reinforce some great messages about mental health? The Talk Today program sees OHL teams partner with the Canadian Mental Health Associations in their community. In Grey Bruce, the Talk Today program includes the school visits under the leadership if CMHA Grey Bruce’s Jackie Ralph. If you’ve met Jackie, you know she is passionate about what she does and she is passionate about this team. We sat down with Jackie to learn more about the partnership between the Attack and CMHA Grey Bruce. It was a great reminder of how important partnerships like this are in small markets like Owen Sound.
Let’s start out with you introducing yourself and explaining what you do at CMHA Grey Bruce?
I’m Jackie Ralph, and I’ve been working at Canadian Mental Health Association Grey Bruce for 20 years in June. I am the Youth and Adult Awareness Education and Awareness Supervisor. I joke around sometimes that we have 150 staff that are paid to listen, but I get paid to talk, so it’s kind of a fun job. So basically, anybody who wants to talk and learn about mental health and resources, I’m there. We take the puppets that talk about mental health into the classrooms, we do post-secondary presentations and some of my favorite groups to talk to are the seniors at the nursing homes. They haven’t always had a chance to talk about mental health growing up and all of a sudden now it’s like, let me share. I’m also registered to teach mental health first aid, applied suicide intervention, skills training, safe talk, which is suicide alertness for everyone, and then empathic strain. We are trained to go into businesses and organizations and talk about the cost of caring and the mark that can leave on us. Those are workplace trainings or sometimes trainings in the schools. We do a lot of mental health first aid courses with the specialist high skills majors. We’re out somewhere almost every day. It’s very rare for me to be in the office.
I wanted to come today to talk about the relationship between the CMHA Grey Bruce and the Owen Sound Attack. Maybe you can just go back to how and when that partnership started?
The Talk Today Program is over 10 years old. The program was launched in 2014 following the tragic death of Saginaw Spirit player Terry Trafford. It is a partnership between CMHA Ontario and the OHL that promotes the mental health of young athletes and raises awareness about suicide and what we can do to help each other. All players receive Team Up Suicide Alertness training, an accredited suicide alertness program that teaches individuals to recognize persons with thoughts of suicide and how to take action. Additionally, each OHL team is required to hold a mental health awareness game in partnership with their closest CMHA branch. These games include an information booth and player video messaging etc. Finally, each team is designated a mental health champion that they can reach out to if they have any questions or concerns. I have been honoured to be that person for all 10 years.
The school visits are optional and that’s where Grey Bruce shines. We absolutely wanted to be doing this. The Attack were already going into schools and this offered them more of a presentation structure. What we’ve done here locally is created our own program. I work on the back end and book it with the schools. We try to always get to the farther schools in September and October and then book the more local schools in November and December before the weather gets bad. The Talk Today visits include five questions we have written in advance. Every one of the players that comes answers those questions. They know these five questions are going to be asked so they practice as they drive with Evan Longland in the truck. After that, we open it up to the school audience to ask questions and then we do a five-on-three ball hockey game with three attack players against five kids from the school. Then there’s an autograph session and pictures. That’s what we’ve created and it has been going really, really well. The schools love when we come and the players offer another voice that shares the same message we’ve been sharing for years. When that message comes from somebody like an Attack player, who kids look up to, they think, if they say it, then it must be true.
If you had to sum that message up in a few sentences, what would that be?
The main message is that you have to take care of your mental health just like you take care of your physical health. And then we try to show what that looks like. We ask what are the things you do for your physical health—because you have to be in good shape to play elite sports, you can’t just be a couch potato. But when you step on the ice, it’s almost 90% mental. You have to have a clear mind, you have to have good self-esteem and your window of tolerance has to be very wide. And so how do you do that? Then we ask them a question about social media—because social media is like the thorn in the side of every young person right now. So we ask “Hey, you’re someone that people look up to and you’re putting yourself out there by playing this sport. What do you find you experience with social media?” They shared a story a couple of schools ago and the players said, ‘We have Amelia for that’. Because Amelia works in the background and sometimes has to remove comments about it being a terrible game or about the players. But the fact that she has to do that is really sad. And then the last two questions we ask them are ‘One in five of us will struggle with our mental health at any one time. You’re a team of 25 people, there could be five players on your team right now, going through grief, loss, anything. How do you support your fellow teammates?’ And then the fifth question is, what if you are the one in five? If you’re the one going through stuff off the ice or on the ice. Who do you talk to? Who are your people? We get answers like, ‘when I need to, I talk to my parents, I talk to my coach or we talk to each other’. Andy Brown comes up all the time. They truly are a family.
More and more, the questions from the students are actually mental health related too. They’ll ask what was your biggest challenge? What was your worst game? How do you stay motivated? And so those have been really great questions and the guys have been incredible at answering them. So when those messages then get passed down to the students it’s important. Last week in Wiarton, one student asked ‘What was your biggest challenge?’. And here’s people they look up to telling stories about being cut, or being benched all season and then persevering to end up in the OHL. The players shared that you have to believe in yourself. You have to know you deserve to be here and that you’re here for a reason. Knowing these players faced the same challenges when they were 12 and 13 makes a big difference to the students.
So the players are pretty willing to put themselves out there. Do they start the year a little more shy and then grow into the role as the season goes on?
100% that’s exactly what they do. The first two or three visits, because we have new players who are done their own schooling and can come to the visits, you always have somebody new and it’s their first time. They are looking to the other two players who have done a few of these. Cedric Guindon was so funny at these. You could tell he was that kid that just loved to talk in school so he would single-handedly take over the Q and A. Additionally, with Cedric we were also able to visit the French speaking schools. When the kids can see themselves in these players, it’s everything. A few years ago, we were in Dundalk, and there was a young student who was new to the school and he spoke Russian. One of the players with us that day spoke Russian. All of a sudden he was having a conversation with this young student and you could just see the face of this young student blooming, because here’s somebody who speaks my language. It was lovely. We took a ton of pictures because it just meant everything to that student that day.
You said this Grey Bruce program makes you a bit of a poster child for Talk Today. Do you feel like this town and this team have been more willing to get out there and connect?
Yes, I would say so. When you have players like Landen Hookey who take on the subject and say ‘This is something I have personal experience with and I want to be more involved’. When Hookey’s Hoodies came along that was huge for the community. Back in the day, Aidan Dudas gave some very impactful answers about how it’s so important to protect your mental health because it’s really all you have. That was a game changer for so many students. I think too because so many of our communities are small, that when we take the players into the schools, there aren’t many people who don’t know about the Owen Sound Attack. I don’t know if that’s the case everywhere in the league. When you go outside of Oshawa, do those students all know who the Oshawa Generals are? But here in Grey Bruce, you can go down to Ripley and three quarters of the kids are wearing Attack gear. The greater Grey Bruce community that the Attack are part of plays a big part in the success of this program.
Sports give people an escape and a bit of a mental break from other things. How do you think a shared love of a team like the Attack affects people in this small community?
When there are things we can’t control, we need something to get behind. We can go to the game and run into the mayor. I can go to the game and run into a business owner that I haven’t seen in a while. But also I can cheer on my team, and they’re going to give us everything they have, and they’re going to play really hard. And then afterwards, you’re upstairs, and you’re running into Carter George’s mom. People love that. That connection is everything. And when the players are out in the schools, they talk about how this is the best community they’ve ever played in. They say they’ve never played in a community that gets behind their team as much as this one. I think that changes them too and they take that on with them going forward in their careers and their lives. I love that we have become well known for our Talk Today program. There are two main sponsors of the program: Syngenta and the Grain Farmers of Ontario, both of course are very relevant here with farmer’s mental health. We’ve been honoured to host the provincial sponsors many times at our Talk Today games. The Talk Today game is coming up on Saturday, February 21st against the Brampton Steelheads at the Bayshore.
Are there some stories you’ve heard from the players or the answers to the five questions that surprised you or impressed you?
Yes, again. Aidan Dudas comes to mind. A question came up from a young person who wanted to know, if mental health struggles were something they’d dealt with. Aidan literally said to the two players beside him, ‘I’ve got this’. He talked directly to that student and not only did he share a message about mental health but he compassionately answered that student’s question in a way that probably changed that student’s life. I will always remember that one and I talk about Aidan all the time. Then last year at East Ridge, Ben Cormier stands out. David Bedkowski was there and he talked about how his dad managed a rink. So he went with him all the time and loved spending time with him. Bruce McDonald talked about his brother who was already playing high level hockey and was his inspiration. But Ben, he said I didn’t have anybody in my family that played hockey so I had to be my own inspiration. You could just see on the faces of a whole bunch of kids in the audience that was what they needed to hear. Maybe they’re new to Grey Bruce, maybe they’re new to Canada, maybe they’re new to winter sports, like a lot of folks that are moving to our area, and here’s somebody saying you can do it. If this is the first time you’ve ever put on skates, you should go for it. If this is the first time you’ve ever played hockey, you should go for it. That message meant so much to so many kids. They came up after and told him that and it was awesome. There have been answers over the years that you realize are going to change a kid’s life.
How many years ago did the social media question get introduced to the conversation?
Social media has been one of the questions the boys have answered for all 10 years but it’s definitely changed. Originally, it was more around the amount to time you spent on your phone and how that might get in the way of your goals. Now it’s very much about protecting yourself. You’ve got to make sure you’re not adding people you don’t know and don’t have any connection to. Unfortunately bullying has been around for all 10 of those years. The players talk about how if somebody makes a comment on your social media and they weren’t at that game, playing on the ice with you, why would you accept their criticism? Does their opinion actually matter in this moment? That message going out to kids means a lot. If they aren’t my friend and they aren’t somebody I know, why would I take what they say as part of my story? It’s really great when they share those answers.
Are there any other key parts of the Talk Today program?
An additional part of the Talk Today program is the opportunity to run the players through a suicide prevention training program called Team Up. Team up was created in collaboration with CMHA Ontario and the Centre for Suicide Prevention based out of the CMHA Alberta branch. The Team Up training is based on their Buddy Up program, a men’s suicide prevention communications campaign: a call to action to men, by men to drive authentic conversation amongst men and their buddies. The premise of the program is 4 steps – Pay Attention to any noticeable change, Start a Conversation in a comfortable setting, Keep it going by asking questions and Stick to your role as a friend by encouraging them to reach out to a helper. We provide this training to the players, staff and coaches each fall. This year, our Choices Mental Health and Addiction counsellor and season ticket holder Ann Marie Vachon attended with me so they could learn more about the help she can provide to them. Ann Marie is available at ODSSS for the players and other students each week.
And you have another role at the Attack games don’t you? Sometimes the night begins with you singing the anthem.
I love it. It started during the pandemic. They videotaped me and they’d play me singing on the big screen when we couldn’t have an audience. Now that the schools are back into the swing of things, there are so many choirs so I only sing a few times a season but I’m on the short list if somebody cancels. I also love that Cubby knows a little bit of sign language now so he uses that during the anthem. I feel pretty safe in saying that I don’t think anywhere else in the league has that.
If someone is reading this and would like to get in touch with Canadian Mental Health Grey Bruce, how do they go about it?
The website lists all the programs, so people can read all about all the programs. But you don’t need to know all the programs, you just need to think this might be something I need to talk about in my life. At that point you call our central intake number and you arrange to have a discussion about which programs you might benefit from. You might get Shannon, Amanda or Kim, and you’ll spend 45 minutes just talking to them, about what’s going on with you, what you are managing right now? As they get to know you, they’ll be able to connect you to that program. Since we’ve switched to a single intake number, people get connected to the services they need a lot sooner. To get started you can call 1-888-451-CMHA (2642) or (519) 371-3642
You’ve been here 20 years, are your services more in need than ever?
If I could say anything, it’s the fact that mental health still remains 6% of our overall health care budget and that is not enough. CMHA national released a report in November and said the mental health of Canadians has declined 300% since the pandemic. We are always doing what we can and trying to connect people as quickly as possible but you can’t meet all the needs on 6% of the budget. Hopefully at some point the government will recognize that realize that supporting the mental health of Canadians actually supports their physical health too.
Is the Talk Today game with the Attack a source of funding for CMHA Grey Bruce?
Yes, that is a big help for us. We have a chuck a puck, jersey raffles, the bucket pass. They give us tickets we can sell in the community. And last year the funds Landen Hookey raised with his hoodies was game changing. We have about a dozen programs that run entirely on community dollars.
Well, I had always seen the social posts from the school visits, and I figured it was a more than floor hockey.
Yes, it’s way more than that. It means a lot to so many kids. But let’s be honest, none of this would be possible without the team. I’m just the sidekick. The coaching staff and the admin staff that do all the work behind the scenes to make this possible. The players that visit the schools and share the messages and interact with the students. They are the ones that have made a commitment to the program. It’s like this program is another way to say thank you to the community that supports them by doing what they can to support the mental health of our communities. And for that, I will always be eternally grateful!
Thanks so much Jackie. We’ll see you at the Bayshore.
Thanks!
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