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WARNING: This article contains details of suicide
A new study from a group of researchers at the University of British Columbia takes a deep dive into the pressure professional male hockey players feel to keep quiet despite serious personal issues.
The study, published last month in the journal Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, involved in-depth interviews with 19 men who are current or former professional hockey players. All but one had played in the National Hockey League.
Through these interviews, lead author Katie Crawford and her team discovered that despite facing issues such as physical pain, mental illness, concussions, addictions, relationship difficulties and more, many players feel compelled to keep things to themselves and cope alone with the problems.
“What I saw was a lot of different barriers, things like fear of job security, fear of losing your position on the team … judgment from teammates, judgment from coaches, judges from the general public, from fans,” Crawford said.
While there has been work to remove those barriers in the NHL in recent years, she said more needs to be done.
Independence, confidentiality
Crawford said some players knew there were resources available to them from the team, such as counselors, but many were skeptical.
Because these resources are provided by their team—their employer—there are concerns about the confidentiality and independence of these resources.
Some players worry that the confidential request for help could be used against them if management found out.
“The guarantee to them about confidentiality is not specific,” Crawford said.
“Suddenly great, we have the resource, but no one wants to use it out of fear.”
She said her findings show a need for the NHL to establish a baseline of resources that all teams must provide to their players when it comes to off-ice support and to enshrine the independence of that support.
CBC sought comment from the NHL and the players’ union, the NHLPA, for this story, but did not immediately receive a response.
Personal connection
Crawford wrote the research as part of her masters program in kinesiology, but is now a PhD student in public health at the University of Bath in the UK
An athlete herself, she played volleyball at UBC and comes from a hockey family, which helped fuel her interest in the subject.
Her uncles are hockey scouts, her brother is a video coach in the NHL, and her father is former Canucks coach Mark Crawford.
Mark Crawford once coached Rick Rypien, who died by suicide in 2011. She said Rypien’s death had a big impact on her family.
“I remember my dad was kind of shaken by that,” she said, adding that she remembers “feeling that these guys were a little closed off and hardened and just really wondering what was making it so hard for them to be more open and more expressive?”
Crawford said for ethical reasons, none of the players interviewed for the study were coached by her father.
She said that while men who play professional hockey are a very specialized population, mental health in the workplace is a bigger issue and the approach of employers has implications for the performance and well-being of employees.
If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts, here’s where to get help:
This guide from Center for Addiction and Mental Health outlines how to talk about suicide with someone you are worried about.
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