Something you don’t usually see in the sports community is the discussion of mental health among athletes. But Tyler Motte has been very open with his Depression and Anxiety, talking about it with ESPN.

Photo creds- Mihockey

He explains how it was to ask for help from the Canucks.

They took Motte’s vitals, conducted measurements, made sure all of his limbs worked correctly. Everything looked fine. Then the doctor asked: “Is there anything else you have going on, anything else we should be concerned about before camp?”

Motte, now 25, paused for a moment. “Actually,” he said. “There is one thing.” Then the words started flowing out of his mouth before he could consider the significance.

“Earlier in the summer, I was diagnosed with anxiety and depression,” Motte said. “Do we have somebody for that?”

“It was an interesting feeling, to ask someone else for help,” Motte said. “But I’m very glad I did.”

Motte explains how his girlfriend was the one who noticed he needed help. He explained, “It was hard to hear at first,” he said. “It’s hard to hear that from someone you love and care about. But after a few conversations, I realized it was worth talking to someone. But just getting to the point where I could sit down and talk to someone — that was a massive step, a massive obstacle for me.”

He then reached out to a Therapist when moving to Vancouver to be a part of the Canucks, He explains how it was uncomfortable at first, but soon he became more settled with the counselling. I think this a great step in letting people know it’s okay to not be okay and lessens the stigma on therapy, especially to hockey fans who could be going through the same thing. Nobody should be suffering in silence.