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When Myles Mattila, became concerned about mental health among his peers, he didn't just worry about it, he took action. Mattila formed an organization with a website called MindRight, where hockey players and other young people could go for resources on the topic. Now he and another organization have formed a partnership that could help forward the cause.
Mattila's MindRight for Athletes Society ('MindRight') and Vancouver-based HeadCheck Health ("HeadCheck") have announced a new partnership to advance athlete health and wellness by making MindRight's resources and peer-to-peer support available through HeadCheck's mobile app and web-based software platform.
"Myles continues to do an incredible job in raising mental health awareness in a way that resonates with young athletes," said Harrison Brown, CEO of HeadCheck Health. "We're happy to provide our platform to support his initiative and make more resources available to athletes and their support network."
"We're not necessarily saying if you get a concussion that it leads to mental health or mental illness," said Mattila, "we just want to raise more awareness around these subjects."
Mattila has had great support from his Kelowna Chiefs, who host regular Mental Health nights. And he's happy to see other teams in the KIJHL have followed-suit, highlighting this important issue.
The Kelowna Chiefs forward and business student at Okanagan College developed MindRight after being inspired by the story of late Vancouver Canuck Rick Rypien. Mattila thought of a friend who struggled with his mental health and developed MindRight to educate athletes, coaches, parents, and supporters about their mental health and the health of others. MindRight aims to provide information about available local resources, and help players make connections with the services they might need. It's his hope that the partnership exposes more athletes to the resources available.
HeadCheck Health is an organization that develops software and services for reporting and managing concussions. For youth sports, the company is working on new ways to reduce the burden on volunteers in these situations The idea is to help more athletes get the help they need.
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