Title:    Removing the (Goalie’s) Mask of Mental Illness

 

Guest: Corey Hirsch

Sportscaster, Former Vancouver Canucks Goaltender, Former St. Louis Blues Coach

 

Summary:

As a Vancouver Canucks goaltender, he seemed to have it all. Corey Hirsch was at the top of his game, but he couldn’t block the dark, obsessive thoughts that raced through his mind like incessant breakaways. As a professional athlete, he was afraid of appearing weak by admitting that he needed help for mental health, so he affixed his goalie’s mask as a shield against shame. That was a quarter century ago. Today, after openly sharing his story just last year about his OCD diagnosis and ruminating suicidal thoughts, he is declaring that there’s nothing to be ashamed of by acknowledging mental illness. In fact, it is now his life’s mission.

 

In our first over-the-phone podcast interview, Corey Hirsch – also a goaltending coach with the St. Louis Blues for four years – tells Executive Director Tom Duff, MSW, LCSW why it is essential that mental-health issues be openly discussed. “I’m not alone. We’re not alone. Mental health awareness is an enormous, unspoken problem -- not just in hockey in Canada and the United States, and not just in sports in general, but also across all other spectrums of society,” he stated on The Players’ Tribune website. “There’s nothing to be embarrassed or ashamed about. We’re all just trying to get through the day. So let’s be open. Let’s talk about it.”

 

Let’s definitely talk about it! It’s time to #BreakDownStigma