Chiefs host Summerland tonight
The Kelowna Chiefs are having a special seasons thus far, with a special game on tap tonight.
The Chiefs (22-0-1-0) are hosting the Summerland Steam (14-10-1-0), 7 p.m. at Rutland Arena, in a battle between the top two seeds in the Okanagan Division on Mental Health Awareness night.
Myles Mattila, a 19-year-old sophomore forward for the Chiefs who hails from Prince George and has produced 19 points through 25 games this season, is the founder of MindRight.info and will be doing his part to recognize incredible people who have made a positive impact on mental health in the Okanagan.
Tonight, Candace Giesbrecht will become the first to be honoured as a MindRight.info Mental Health Community Star.
Each season going forward, the Chiefs will host four Mental Health Awareness games, with one recipient of the Community Star at each game.
Giesbrecht spent six years with the Canadian Mental Health Kelowna Association (CMHA) as director of community engagement and fundraising. She currently a co-owner of MotoVida Cycle and the director of talent at Refresh Financial.
When Mattila moved to Kelowna in June 2015, Giesbrecht was instrumental in helping him get established as a youth mental health advocate in the community.
As director of community engagement, Giesbrecht took the time to support those who wanted to help others while working together to help those in need. She recognized the importance of early intervention and how to connect with youth.
“I believe we have the resources available to help youth in need and we should give them support to get the help when needed,” said Mattila.
Mindright was founded three years ago by Mattila, who recently added the Peer to Peer Support Program (P2P) to his extensive list of mental health initiatives.
The primary goal of P2P is to create a resource platform to help provide support and do even more for youth mental health.
It uses hockey as one example and a common place with access to a large number of ‘players’ — like-minded youth — and tries to demonstrate that it is ‘OK’ to ask for help. The vision is to help youth hockey players end the mental health stigma within their peer group, and assist players with seeking the necessary help they need from the P2P Resource Team and existing community resources.
“We believe that, when dealing with mental health challenges, early intervention is crucial and this can be accomplished with P2P,” said Mattila, who has been recognized by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for his efforts in mental health awareness.