Humboldt crash survivor to bring mental health message to Sarnia area

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A mental health advocate who survived the 2018 Humboldt Broncos bus crash is set to speak in Point Edward Oct. 8 about the need for open conversations about trauma and emotional healing.

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Tyler Smith, founder of Not Alone Co., is scheduled to speak during an evening event by The Centre and the Stronger Allies, Stronger Communities initiative at the Four Points Sheraton Point Edward. For ticket information, visit revelree.ca/event/tylersmithsarnia.

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The former Humboldt Broncos hockey player and Amazing Race Canada winner from Leduc, Alta., speaks regularly about mental health.

“His message is really incredible,” said Chantel Butterfield, executive director of The Centre, a Sarnia agency advocating for an end to gender-based violence, who heard Smith speak at a conference last year.

Butterfield said she was impressed by his message of “resilience” after a traumatic event, and of  being “a man in sports and how you’re just supposed to tough it out.”

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Smith spoke about how he came to realize “accessing supports wasn’t a weakness; it was a strength,” she said.

“Tyler’s story is not just one of survival, it’s a call to action,” sheadded.

Smith’s Point Edward appearance aligns with the Stronger Allies, Stronger Communities initiative’s mission to foster allyship, prevent gender-based violence, and create safer, more equitable communities, organizers said in a release.

The initiative is a research partnership between The Centre and Lambton College “engaging with men and boys about ending gender-based violence,” Butterfield said.

Also, a male ally coalition with The Centre “is something that we’d like to start amplifying . . . because we know we can’t end gender-based violence alone,” she said. “We have to engage everyone.”

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Men also often struggle to reach out for help, an ongoing stigma the research initiative, led by primary researcher Allie Wall, is working to remove, Butterfield said.

“Tyler’s leadership in mental health advocacy and post-traumatic growth has the potential to reach people of all ages and genders,” Wall said in the release.

“Believe it or not, that day that fundamentally changed me as a human being and led me here is a day I have zero memory of,” Smith told Mitchell District secondary school students in March.

On April 6, 2018, a westbound tractor-trailer went through a flashing stop sign near the rural community of Armley, Sask., and collided with the team bus of the Humboldt Broncos. Sixteen people died, including the junior hockey team’s coach, 11 players, the bus driver, the team’s athletic therapist and two local radio station employees.

The 13 survivors all suffered physical, mental, spiritual and emotional injuries, Smith said.

“Mental health is not a battle to be won,” he said.

“It is a journey to continue walking. I had so many misconceptions. . . . I’m going to put this figurative mask on and nobody’s going to know I’m struggling,” he added. “I was suffering in silence every single day.”

Smith said it took him nine months to finally get help, and it led to his current career as a public speaker and advocate for mental health.

With files from Andy Bader, Postmedia Network

pmorden@postmedia.com

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