Ben Scrivens: Why I Started Talking About Mental Health

For those of you who don’t follow hockey, Ben Scrivens is a goaltender for the HC Dinamo Minsk of the Kontinental Hockey League. Last season Ben was a member of the Montreal Canadiens (NHL) and helped bring mental health awareness to the forefront of the league by debuting the first of four goalie masks designed by artists living with schizophrenia.

Ben embarked on a mental health campaign with the Schizophrenia Society of Alberta that turned his goalie masks into a canvas for the messages of four Edmonton artists living with Schizophrenia. Additionally, Ben partnered with the Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation and local mental health non-profits to create Ben’s Netminders, a community program that hosts youth living with mental illness for ten Oilers games during the 2014-2015 season.

Ben first became interested in combating the stigma surrounding mental illness while earning an undergraduate degree from Cornell University. Ben says the recent suicides of hockey players, both current and former, has opened a lot of eyes around the league and the topic of mental health isn’t a taboo subject anymore.

With the “play through anything” mentality in professional hockey, it’s important that players know they can ask for help if struggling mentally. Ben’s helmet has helped start the conversation around mental health and hopefully more players follow suit soon.