When the Tiger-Cats, and their soccer cousins Forge FC, created a major partnership with the CAMH Foundation to help promote mental health awareness, Scott Milanovich was on board immediately.
The Ticat head coach quickly agreed to be one of the Hamilton Sports Group’s mental health ambassadors—along with the likes of Ticat legend Simoni Lawrence and Forge captain Kyle Bekker—who would share their personal perspectives to encourage open honest dialogue around mental wellness.
The partnership with CAMH (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health) Foundation involves the Tiger-Cats and Forge FC creating a new content series designed to amplify awareness around mental health.
The commitment by the Ticats and Forge is a wide-ranging initiative that includes the launch of a mental wellness platform for young people, in-stadium activations, youth engagement programs, and a series that will feature athletes from both teams sharing personal stories on overcoming adversity, managing pressure and prioritizing mental wellness.
Among the projects is a series of interviews, with Milanovich and others, aimed at increasing public awareness of mental health issues and encouraging open and honest dialogue around those issues.
Through personal experience, Milanovich knows the value of those frank discussions and interviews.
“I don’t know how many interviews I’ve done over my career, probably a thousand, at least,” he said this week. “And I’ve probably never answered a more important question.
“If (a mental health issue) hasn’t touched your family now, it’s going to, and there’s no education, or very little education.
“I’m speaking from a personal standpoint here. When it happened to one of my daughters, I had no idea how to handle it, how to deal with it. I thought I could fix it, but you can’t fix it. You need treatment, you need therapy, you need all those things, and those might not work right away. My daughter was in and out of eight different facilities all across the country, and little by little over a period of years, it started to stick. And now she’s doing great, and she’s got control over this disease.
“The hope is that if there’s a kid out there or a parent out there who is struggling, they’ll know they’re not alone: There’s nothing wrong with you; people love you, but they need help.
“My first thought was, ‘I can fix this. I can say a couple magic words or yell at her.’ But you can’t. And my hope is there’s a parent or a kid out there who sees this and knows there’s other people involved.
“And this is what I told our team, too, that if it’s touched them in any way and they can share their story, I think it’s helpful because maybe they reach out and they get that treatment, get that help that’s helped my own family.”
In a partnership with Headversity, a pacesetter in preventative mental health training, the Ticats and Forge will introduce a ground-breaking digital platform that focuses on youth, and will be distributed via several sports programs throughout the summer and fall. With input from athletes, youth, and health professionals, the platform will help build resilience and emotional strength, identify safe spaces, create and share personal mantras, and help access local support resources.
For more information about the Tiger-Cats’ mental health awareness programs, visit Ticats.ca or follow @Ticats on social media.
