Former NHL goalie talking in Kitchener
Clint Malarchuk has suffered from mental illness, nearly died twice
Clint Malarchuk thought playing in the NHL was his destiny, but now he says it’s giving hope to others who are struggling in the dark depths of mental illness.
“I really feel like I’m here to do this,” Malarchuk, 55, said.
“My message is you are not alone and you can get well.”
He is proof, after surviving three very close calls and then finally getting the help he needs to be happy and healthy.
Even those who don’t know the former goalie by name or follow hockey will likely remember the infamous accident in 1989 when two players crashed into the goal crease and one skate blade slashed Malarchuk’s neck, severing his carotid artery and causing profuse bleeding onto the ice.
Amazingly, he survived and soon returned to playing hockey, then became an NHL coach. A few years ago, he wrote about his career and struggles with mental illness and alcoholism in “The Crazy Game.”
Digging up those painful experiences was tough, but the overwhelming response launched Malarchuk into his new purpose: mental health advocacy.
“I’m just so passionate about it. It all started when I wrote the book,” Malarchuk said.
“That was tough, but the speaking I find easier and very gratifying.”
Malarchuk will be in Kitchener next Wednesday during Children’s Mental Health Week at an event sponsored by Carizon, Lutherwood and Waterloo Region Suicide Prevention Council.
Tickets for the evening talk are $10. Register at http:// bit.ly/2mLVzx0.
“It’s very, very important to me to be of service,” Malarchuk said.
He wants to combat the mis-
conceptions around mental illness and encourage people to get help, like they would for any health condition.
“A lot of people think it’s a weakness and it’s not.
“It’s a disorder,” Malarchuk said. “You can be cured. You can be happy.”
Bringing hope by telling his story brings great comfort to Malarchuk, who often hears from people that he spurred to reach out for help.
“We tend to live in silence,” Malarchuk said.
For much of his life, Malarchuk silently coped with anxiety, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder, sparked by the near deadly on-ice accident.
The accident haunted him, eventually leading to a suicide attempt which he remarkably survived.
Earlier he also nearly died of an accidental overdose by mixing alcohol and painkillers when nightmares from the accident kept him from sleeping.
Finally, Malarchuk got help. Now, life is “very good.” “I still struggle at times, but nowhere near the depths that I used to,” Malarchuk said. The key is balance. Malarchuk takes medication and sees a mental health professional regularly. Meditation and exercise are two things he always makes time for, even when he’s travelling from his home in Nevada, where he’s a horse dentist and chiropractor.
“I have to be accountable for my mental health,” Malarchuk said. “It becomes habit, and a good habit.”
His wife Joanie will speak in Kitchener, too. “She went through so much of this with me,” Malarchuk said.
And, he added, there are lots of Clints in the world, but more Joanies.
“I am a survivor and lots of people who came to hear us have lost somebody.”
The huge response to his book was a shock. People related to the despair and darkness, and many of the people Malarchuk heard from were suicide survivors like himself.
“I wrote the book to help people but I didn’t realize how many people there are,” he said. “I am not alone.”