Heroes in Our Midst

“There’s only one true success and that’s to live life in your own way.”

Ace Burpee’s sister said that, and he sure did take it to heart. Ace is as unapologetic and human as anyone I have ever met. He lives in Winnipeg, he’s the Morning Show GUY on Hot 103 Virgin Radio and is happy about it.  I would consider Ace a return guest because he’s been here before. He helped us wrap up Season 1 by asking Dr. Adrienne Leslie-Toogood and I about all of our past guests. But that wasn’t about him… today… it is.

Today, we asked Ace to come back as our very special guest because he himself has a great life story to tell. In fact, at this time, when so many people are talking about mental health, there couldn’t be a better time for Ace to share. Not because he has it all figured out but because he too has been on a mental health journey among other things. We just love him. Ace Burpee truly is a difference maker and a “Hero in our Midst”. Enjoy.

Rick Henkewich has spent almost 60 years immersed in the sport of football. Whether as a player or coach, he’s been involved at every single level of the game, with a dedication to never stop learning.

He was the first commissioner of the Winnipeg High School Football League that wasn’t an educator and throughout his time, he’s continued to grow the game and mentor the next generation.

In every episode of “Heroes in our Midst” I just know there’s something for each of us to take away, to learn from and to be inspired by. Many of our guests have been Olympians. Fitting since the 2021 Olympic Games is set to begin in just a few days.

Our guest’s dream was to be an Olympian and he almost met his goal.

Kevin Geyson was a world class diver. In fact, he spent 11 years on the Canadian senior national diving team mainly specializing on 10 meter platform. He had lots of success but not without lots of challenge. He’s a National champion, Pan Am Games and Commonwealth Games bronze medallist, and he was ranked top 8 in the world in 10 meter synchro as well.

So, what happened along the way and how is Kevin Geyson doing after all of that – as a human?

You have to hear his story about the coach/athlete relationship, the incredible come back from what should have been a career ending accident just months before trying to qualify, to know the difference between Kevin the robot and Kevin the person and then also to understand what was all part of his journey, the good and the bad.

Now, Kevin’s story doesn’t end with diving even though, diving did, indeed, come to an end without an Olympic trip. He continued into the world of cheerleading where he helped Team Canada win a world championship!

Kevin is now living in Montreal. He’s an athletic therapist and personal trainer and he is still journeying through his experience because as he puts it so well, “Being an athlete is only part of your life, you are a person for the rest of your life.”

Listen to this amazing person tell his story and be inspired.

Every week, I feel like I’m sharing the best episode yet. Well, here we go again. Dr. Cristina Fink is an Olympian AND now a performance psychologist that works with Olympic and professional athletes. Her involvement in sport from so many perspectives has given her a wisdom on performance and on the humans behind it that is beyond most of us. So, that’s why we invited her to share her story. She competed in 2 Olympic Games for her home country of Mexico in the sport of high jump and after that found her way into the world of performance psychology. Cristina’s approach as a psychologist is simple really and yet, unique in it’s simplicity. She really, truly listens and creates a safe space for her athletes to be heard. Perhaps the greatest gift she gives to the athletes she works with is the empowerment that comes from BEING heard… even in hearing yourself.

Seems to me, Dr. Cristina Fink embodies exactly what we are trying to get across with this podcast project… for us all to be unapologetically human, to be OK with our own uniqueness and to own it… whatever it is.

Enjoy your time listening to Dr. Cristina Fink but be prepared to be inspired and to hear things in a way you may not have heard them before. She said it herself, “You never know who you’re gonna impact, and you never know what you’re leaving behind”. I believe her impact is SO far reaching and when you listen – it will impact you as well.

At “Heroes in our Midst” our focus is to find the human behind every story we get to share. We recognize how essential it is to be OK with what IS on the inside. Today’s guest is Lorne Korol. Lorne is a man of faith first. He works as a chaplain with a Christ centered organization called “Athletes in Action” and I am excited for you to get to listen to him share, from the heart, the love and compassion he has for the athletes he spends time with. Not always the Christianity you have the pleasure to hear about. It’s not about religion – it’s about relationship and as chaplain for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, the Winnipeg Jets and the Manitoba Moose at the moment, he speaks to and listens to the hearts of some of the top athletes in our province, our country and even in the world of professional sport. He has spent years building relationship and sharing faith.

But faith alone has not exempted Lorne from his own struggles with mental health. They are real and recent. And yet, he continues to be thankful to God for the position he believes that God has put him in to help the young men he works with become complete athletes and more importantly men of character.

Listen as Lorne shares what it’s like to be a chaplain in the professional sport world, what it’s like to rub shoulders with some of the biggest names in sport and how, in the intense world of sport, he helps his athletes find peace, hope and a faith of their own. Through the best times and the worst, it’s truly what’s in your heart, above all else, that matters.

Today’s episode highlights a guy they call “The Coach Doc”. Dr. Wade Gilbert. He is an internationally renowned coaching consultant and award-winning professor in the Department of Kinesiology at California State University – Fresno. He has taught and studied coaching and talent development at the University of Ottawa, UCLA, and Fresno State and is the author of the highly acclaimed book “Coaching Better Every Season.” He is a long-time advisor to the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee Coach Education Department and has counselled coaches and sport organizations around the world in every sport imaginable at the very highest levels. Currently, Wade is also serving as the mental performance coach for the Canadian Women’s Softball team that will be competing in Tokyo this summer!! And after hearing all of that – just think, YOU have the opportunity to listen and learn what he has shared with many coaches, teams and organizations already – right here -- and even more as he shares his personal story too.

Dr. Wade Gilbert certainly leads by example and is relentless in sharing what he has learned along the way with others. If you are a coach of any kind, you WANT to hear this conversation. Enjoy!!

We couldn’t be happier to introduce our guest for today’s episode, broadcasting great, Ron Maclean! Yep – Canadian sportscaster extraordinaire and yet, the guy we all feel like we know. Ron interviews, Ron collects stories, and Ron digs into the background of extraordinary humans himself but now, it’s OUR turn to find out all about HIM!

Ron also sat next to Don Cherry on “Coach’s Corner” for over 3 decades, he’s known for hosting CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada, he’s hosted at 12 Olympic Games – and he shares the “behind the scenes” of all of that with me and when we sat down, via Zoom, to chat – he was in his home office and I felt like he had literally invited me right into his home.

Now, Ron’s broadcasting career has not been without challenge or controversy and yet his willingness to be unapologetically human and admit that he is fallible has endeared him to us all and keeps us listening to all that he has to say. He’s still incredibly prepared for each day… he does his research and he cares so deeply to get it right – for his guests and for those of us who continue to watch and listen.

I truly feel that through our conversation, we found the human behind the performance – and you’re going to like what you find underneath it all. Ron Maclean is one of us for sure – and no question, that makes him a “Hero in our Midst”. So, enjoy listening to his incredible repertoire of stories – you will be glad you did!

When Tyler Hodgson first enrolled at Grant Park in middle school, football wasn’t the first thing on his mind. Instead, he went there for the performing arts program.

Hodgson had no previous experience with the sport until grade nine when his buddies convinced him to try it out. The rest is history.

Originally a defensive back in grades nine and ten, a then 5’11” Hodgson shifted to playing both sides of the ball after hitting a massive growth spirt in grade 11.

It was impossible not to notice Hodgson during his senior year of high school in 2016. Now standing at 6’5″ he averaged a ridiculous 25 yards per catch, which drew the eyes of the Winnipeg Rifles who brought him into the fold after he graduated.

Through consistent work and a selfless attitude, he worked his way into a leadership role with the Rifles and is now set to play university football with UBC. This is his story.

Sometimes you know you need to talk about something as soon as possible and mental health seems to be top of mind right now. So, as we have shared the stories of some of our mainstream, frontline healthcare workers in the last 2 weeks, we thought it would be fitting to address mental health too.

A former volleyball teammate and very special personal friend of Michelle’s, Lorriann Ludwig works at the Manitoba Crisis Response Centre under the direction of Dr. James Bolton. Lorriann has become a good friend and follower of “Heroes in our Midst” and suggested that if we wanted to talk about mental health with anyone – it should be Dr. James Bolton, and no wonder. He is the Ruth Hurd Professor in Psychiatry at the University of Manitoba. He is cross appointed as a Professor in the Departments of Psychology and Community Health Sciences at the U of M and is a Scientist at the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy. As if that wasn’t enough, Dr. Bolton has spent the last 7 years as the Medical Director of the Shared Health Manitoba Crisis Response Centre in Winnipeg.

He has poured himself into the research of mental health, specifically, suicide prevention and he continues to, as part of the National Research Advisory Committee on Suicide and its Prevention.

So, enjoy your chance to learn, by listening to him talk about the incredible challenges that Covid has placed on mental health and so much more.

Enjoy, Dr. James Bolton, another hero in our midst.

There was once a thought that by May of 2021 Covid would be a thing of the past. As we know, it is far from over and so it’s fitting that our focus in this episode is once again on our front-line medical workers in this challenging time. Now, the fact that Dr. Chau Pham is an Emergency Room Physician at the Health Sciences Centre during COVID alone, would make her a hero – add to that, she’s the Ultrasound Director, in the Department of Emergency Medicine, she’s an Assistant Professor, Max Rady College of Medicine and Rady Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Manitoba – put that all together and she secures her place in the hero department… but if you ask me – her LIFE story and the person she is because of it, far outweighs her accomplishments in terms of what makes her an incredible human. She does not apologize for being real… she’s not afraid to share the good times AND the bad… and I am sure that after spending this time with us – you’ll feel inspired. You don’t hear a story like Dr. Chau Pham’s very often – I would venture to say maybe never and I am honored that she chose to share it with us from her beginnings as a small child in Vietnam, just 5 years old, put on a boat by her parents, alone, in hopes of reaching a land of more opportunity and a better life for their daughter. What a choice and what a journey to reconcile that choice – from both sides. Chau is now making the most of every single opportunity she has been given and has chosen a life of gratitude and what a difference she is making.

What a story and what a message for us all especially in this time, “We are all in this together”. Let’s continue to strive for that togetherness and not forget it, when we reach the other side of this pandemic and all that it’s brought to our lives.

Dr. Chau Pham – enjoy the journey with us.