Fleury shares story of resilience
STANDING BUFFALO FIRST NATION — A community in crisis calls out for help and it is answered by former-NHL player Theoren Fleury.
“In light of the recent suicides and attempted suicides we needed to do something ... for our youth, our families and community,” said Chief Rodger Redman. “A lot of parents have been asking us, ‘How can we help our kids?’ ”
On Thursday, with the assistance of Qu’Appelle Child and Family Services (QCFS) a suicide prevention workshop was hosted on Standing Buffalo.
When the former NHL player entered the Standing Buffalo gymnasium, he was greeted with a standing ovation but once the cheers subsided Fleury asked for a moment of silence for the grandmothers and grandfathers.
He is the first to admit he is no longer the man he once was and he could not be happier.
“This is the 64th First Nation community I have visited since my book came out and I have had a lot of opportunities to speak with elders and leaders in the communities and they are all telling me that we need to get back to our old ways — spirituality, ceremonies and language,” said Fleury. That’s exactly what he has done and says it has been his miracle.
Fleury chronicled his life story in his autobiography Playing with Fire.
In his book, he revealed his darkest and most painful memories from being sexually abused to becoming an alcoholic to finally contemplating suicide before deciding to take control of his life.
He took his last drink on Sept. 18, 2005 and hasn’t looked back, but said it has not been an easy journey.
“I believe my healing flat lined for a really long time,” said Fleury. “I was a couple years sober when I started to venture into aboriginal spirituality ... my recovery went to a completely new level of peace, happiness and understanding.”
He is a strong believer in the power of prayer and traditional ceremonies.
Fleury has fully embraced First Nations culture and says participating in a sweatlodge ceremony is his favourite thing to do.
“I’ve done an incredible amount of healing in the sweat lodges,” he said.
He is also an honourary chief at the Siksika First Nation in Alberta, all his children have Blackfoot names and he is a pipe carrier.
Fleury believes he has an obligation to share his story and to reach out to young people and let them know there is hope and that they hold the key to their own success.
“It wasn’t too long ago that I had a loaded gun in my mouth, ready to pull the trigger and so I know how these kids are feeling,” he said. “But I didn’t (pull the trigger) and thank God I didn’t because look at my life now. My life today is incredible.”
He ended his keynote address by telling the young people in the audience to never give up and to wait for their miracle.
Redman hopes Fleury can be the inspiration the young people need by leaving them with a sense of hope that things will get better. He knows in order to help heal his community and help the youth that more is needed.
“It’s a first step,” said Redman. “(We’re) partnering with social services in Fort Qu’Appelle, Fort Qu’Appelle high school, Lipton High School and QCFS and the communities to bring together some awareness about bullying, self esteem for our youth, suicide prevention and in the coming weeks we are going to do more training and parenting. More training on, how to deal with a situation when you are aware of a possible suicide victims — those who are thinking about it.”
Myke Agecoutay, QCFS chief ’s liaison officer policy analyst, said he knew the community needed immediate help. So he and the rest of the agency went to work to set up the workshop.
“We only had two weeks, but everything seemed to fall into place,” he said. “This is the first major event we have had to respond to, probably in the last decade or so. There hasn’t been an immediate need for suicide intervention programming ... It was our obligation to do something immediately.”
Agecoutay said it is clear from the response the event received from schools, parents, caregivers, front-line workers, foster parents and other agencies that this type of awareness training is needed.
“Suicide is a tough topic to discuss,” said Agecoutay. “It’s so sensitive that (youth) would rather not deal with it.”
He believes being able to openly discuss the topic will help curb the rate of youth suicide in First Nation communities.