The game of hockey is considered by most to be a game for the fierce and tough. The Stratford Warriors reside among the cream of the crop in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League, and now the team is taking a full-scale approach to ensure success on and off the ice.
MacGregor Austin-Olsen is the Warriors' mental health advisor, a position held by few in the hockey community. In fact, only the Warriors and the KW Siskins have a staff position that makes mention of mental health.
Austin-Olsen, who also works with Stratford Police, came to the Warriors at a very difficult time for the team.
“A number of years ago, the Warriors lost their captain due to suicide,” he said. “I became the first MCRRT (Mobile Crisis Rapid Response Team) worker, so I ride along with Stratford Police and do mental health assessments on the road. The Warriors' director of hockey operations, Jason Clarke (who also works with Stratford Police), felt like it would be valuable to bring me in following Carter’s death.”
Austin-Olsen spoke with the players on the team about how to manage things and he provided them strategies to get through their grief. Now Austin-Olsen is there when the players need him.
“I’ll pop in to talk to just the players, to allow them to put a face to a name,” he said. “I just want the players to be able to know me, so that if they do run into some mental health concerns or whatever they know they have a person they can reach out to directly that can support them.
Austin-Olsen says mental health is challenging all on its own but when you add the pressure of being an elite player, who is also a young person it can make things that much more difficult.
“A lot of the players I meet are thinking of bigger ideas, which is great, but they came from a team where they played lots of minutes to the big club where sometimes you feel that emotional stress of not playing as many shifts, or being a regular on the powerplay, and maybe you are even a healthy scratch.”
But hockey isn’t the only focus for Austin-Olsen when speaking with players.
“Those (16, 17, 18 and 19) are tough years for men and boys.” Austin-Olsen said. “There's a lot of things that come up besides hockey, so I talk to them about things like healthy relationships, school and family relationships.”
Canadian organization Puck Support aims to end stigmas associated with mental health and addictions. Founder and former player Brady Leavold is very open about his journey around trauma, mental health struggles and addiction challenges. He started Puck Support in 2020 with the mandate of 'igniting change in mental health and substance misuse by setting the hockey world in motion'. The organization is putting together a database of players and coaches that have lost their lives due to suicide or addiction. To date there are 29 members on that database, including former Warrior Carter Schoonderwoerd.
Austin-Olsen is hopeful that the stigma surrounding mental health and addictions will lessen.
“The stigma around mental health affects everyone,” he said. “People will get nervous about reaching out for help, but we are seeing with younger generations that they are being taught about the support in place and becoming used to them, which is a really good thing.
Austin-Olsen met with this year’s Warriors in early December and plans to take his talk which includes a half hour question and answer back to the team around playoff time.
