Three Days Grace drummer shares his story
‘Sharing to anyone that you don’t feel well is enough,’ Neil Sanderson tells crowd of 2,000 at Thomas A. Stewart Field
Neil Sanderson lives a dream travelling the globe in one of the world’s most successful rock bands, with a beautiful wife, healthy kids and money in the bank.
And yet there are times the Three Days Grace drummer feels down or battles anxiety.
Sanderson shared his story with about 2,000 spectators at the fifth annual Friday Night Lights fundraiser for Team 55 Let’s Tackle Suicide Awareness and the Canadian Mental Health Association at Thomas A. Stewart Athletic Field.
Sharing his feelings with friends, family or in his music is therapeutic and he urged others who are struggling to tell someone. You wouldn’t suffer a migraine or stomach pain without seeking help, why suffer mental anguish alone, he said.
“Any insight you share to your inner circle is a massive step in the right direction for you not to feel like that anymore,” Sanderson said. “Sharing to anyone that you don’t feel well is enough.”
Team 55 has donated $40,000 the past two years to fund the CMHA’s Assertive Outreach for Suicide Prevention (AOSP) program. It funds a full-time clinician to work with people who go to the hospital at risk of or having attempted suicide. The program has treated more than 100 people and every one of them is alive today, said Team 55 founder Dave Pogue.
He said they were twice turned down by the former Liberal government for full funding requests. On Friday, Peterborough Kawartha MPP David Smith brought Robin Martin, parliamentary assistant to minister of health Christine Elliott, to the event. She met earlier in the day with CMHA officials who pled their case.
She told the crowd her government has pledged $1.9 billion, to be matched by the federal government, for mental health and addiction services. She’s touring Ontario to determine funding priorities.
In an interview, Martin said she is impressed by the AOSP program and the community’s support of Team 55 and the CMHA. The province recognizes hospitals don’t have the resources to meet the demands for mental health treatment, she said.
“Our government is focused on treating mental health as though it was exactly the same as physical health. If someone needs help, they need it when they need it and not weeks later.”
AOSP is the type of program that fills gaps in the system, she said, and is worth consideration.
“I’m not in a position to confirm that we would fund this program, I’m not allowed to make those decisions by myself, but it seems like it is filling a gap,” she said.
“What we look for is is this the best way to service this need and is it something we could replicate in other places. What are the relative costs compared to other programs we might have.”
Pogue wanted Martin to see the impact of AOSP first-hand. She heard a powerful testimonial from a woman whose daughter attempted suicide and who credits AOSP for keeping her alive.
“We hope they’ll take it back to the minister of health and see if some of the pot of that funding can come back and not only support our AOSP program but also try to put similar programs in other cities in Ontario,” Pogue said. “That’s our goal tonight. We know this program works.”
The AOSP program spread to Lindsay’s Ross Memorial Hospital, he said, when a family who lost a child to suicide anonymously donated $100,000.
A fundraising total from the event wasn’t available at deadline. Bob Hall, chairman of the police services board, presented a $5,000 cheque from proceeds of a police auction. Smith also donated $250.
The day featured a full lineup of high school football and rugby from noon to 11 p.m. in the feature senior football game the TASSS Griffins beat the Crestwood Mustangs 37-7.