By Chris Brown

Trauma, grief and loss

Mental health support sessions to feature well-known figures sharing personal stories

Apr 9, 2021 | 4:53 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Medicine Hat College has partnered with a well-known mental health advocacy group to continue important discussions in our community around trauma, grief and loss.

Through the Brandon Niwa Legacy Fund’s The Beej Project, the college and I Got Mind will host two free webinars and support sessions during the next two weeks.

The first webinar, Monday, April 12, is titled Being Trauma Informed. The second is Grief and Loss on April 19. Support sessions will follow the next day, offering the chance for one-on-one talks.

“I think what really makes us distinctive is our personal experience and the stories that we bring with the science,” says I Got Mind president Bob Wilkie. “We’re not just telling our stories we’ve got our scientific people telling us what happens to our brains as we tell our stories.”

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Willie Desjardins of the Medicine Hat Tigers, former NHL goalie Clint Malarchuk and Medicine Hat police chief Mike Worden will share their personal mental health experiences.

Wilkie has his own experiences with trauma as part of the Swift Current Broncos bus crash in 1986 and struggled with mental health issues long after.

He says public figures sharing their personal experience can be a powerful factor in erasing the stigma of mental health.

“Absolutely, and stories that they can relate to and the way that they converse with them it takes them to that time in their life where they can relate to it and then we share a little bit of the science,” he says. “‘OK so here if you went through this you probably experienced that’ and ‘they’re going yeah that’s exactly what it was.’ OK, good, so now here’s some of things that we know that you can start to do to feel better.”

Wilkie has two pieces of advice for anyone who is struggling but can’t attend the sessions: Don’t lose hope and find someone to talk with.

“There were lots of times where I just lost hope and it got very dark and it got very lonely,” he says. “To be able to open up to somebody to be able to find that one person in your circle to say you know what I need to talk and just being able to be open and vulnerable. it’s amazing the weight that lifts automatically.”

Most importantly, know you’re not alone.

“One of the things that we know about people who are struggling with their mental health is we can very much feel like we’re the only one on the planet going through that. And that’s absolutely not the case.”

Links to register can be found at igotmind.ca/medicine-hat-wellness-initiative/.

Webinar and Support Session Details

Webinar #1 – Being Trauma Informed Monday, Apr. 12, 2021 / 7 p.m. via Zoom

This 75-minute presentation discusses the forms and effects of trauma. Bob Wilkie will begin by sharing his personal experience of the 1986 Swift Current Broncos bus crash, as well as his involvement with the Humboldt Broncos tragedy in 2018. Former NHL goalie, Clint Malarchuk will continue the conversation by sharing his own personal story of the trauma he has experienced throughout his life. This is an informative event that provides insights and action steps to resolving trauma, and aims to create a deeper understanding of trauma and its effects as an individualized experience.

Support Session Tuesday, Apr. 13, 2021 / 7 p.m. via Zoom

Register here The team of clinical psychologists and mental health clinicians at IGM will host a group session for anyone who wishes to learn more about how to heal and overcome their own personal trauma they’ve experienced.

Webinar #2 – Grief & Loss Monday, Apr. 19, 2021 / 7 p.m. via Zoom

This 75-minute event will outline the grieving process we experience when we lose someone or something meaningful in our life. Medicine Hat Tigers head coach, Willie Desjardins will speak to his personal experiences, and amateur scout for the Calgary Flames, Darren Kruger will share his story about the loss of his brother in the Swift Current Broncos bus crash. This event will support those who have experienced any type of loss, and the experts at IGM will help attendees understand the grieving process and how they can get back on track.

Grief & Loss Support Session Tuesday, Apr. 20, 2021 / 7 p.m. via Zoom

The IGM team will host a group session for anyone who wishes to learn more about how to begin to take steps towards creating a new way of life. Registration is required for all events.