{"id":31719,"date":"2019-01-25T03:59:20","date_gmt":"2019-01-25T11:59:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=31719"},"modified":"2019-01-24T09:40:22","modified_gmt":"2019-01-24T17:40:22","slug":"lets-talk-mental-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2019\/01\/25\/lets-talk-mental-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Let\u2019s talk mental health"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Michael Landsberg will deliver the\ntalk Darkness and Hope: Depression, Sport and Me on Feb. 13, as part of Jewish\nFamily Services\u2019 Family Life Education Series. (photo from JFS)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael Landsberg is a Canadian sports\njournalist and former host of Off the Record<\/em> for TSN. He is also a\npassionate advocate for removing the stigma around mental illness, and will be\ncoming to Vancouver next month to deliver the talk Darkness and Hope:\nDepression, Sport and Me. A Jewish Family Services (JFS) Family Life Education\nevent, the talk will be held at Congregation Beth Israel on Feb. 13, with all\nproceeds going to support JFS mental health initiatives in the community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Landsberg, who suffers from depression and\ngeneralized anxiety disorder, has in recent years been an ambassador for Bell\nLet\u2019s Talk, an initiative that raises awareness and encourages dialogue about\nmental health. In 2013, his documentary, Darkness and Hope: Depression,\nSports and Me<\/em>, was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for best history\nor biography documentary program or series. The Canadian Alliance on Mental\nIllness and Mental Health has named Landsberg one of its Champions of Mental\nHealth. Landsberg is known for his Twitter hashtag #sicknotweak, which\nencourages discussion around mental health and creates a forum for those\nneeding help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re thrilled and delighted to have Michael\nLandsberg come and do a talk at Beth Israel,\u201d said Alan Stamp, clinical\ncounseling director at JFS. \u201cHe has become an ambassador and a pioneer for\nmental health. He took a risk coming out about his struggles, [and] for him to\ncome out and share his experiences is quite captivating. What he does best of\nall is he addresses stigma and, when someone in his role can speak out, it\nhelps to lessen the suffering of the one in five Canadians \u2013 which is a\nconservative estimate in my opinion \u2013 who experiences a mental health concern\nover their lifetime.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Vancouver, Landsberg will be doing a\none-hour talk with a question-and-answer period afterwards. He spoke to the Jewish\nIndependent<\/em> about helping people struggling with mental health issues. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn general, sports mimics life,\u201d he said.\n\u201cWhen I speak about life and the stigma around mental health, I know we\u2019re not\nas far ahead as we think we are. I don\u2019t think we\u2019re nearly as far ahead as we\nwould want to believe. We\u2019ve been working hard and it\u2019s way better, yet I hear\nfrom people in the sports world all the time who are still in the closet, or\nthey\u2019re feeling shame.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A major focus of Landsberg\u2019s work is combating\nthe idea that mental illness is a sign of weakness or is something\n\u201cself-inflicted.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat is the arrogance of mental health,\u201d he\nsaid. \u201cMentally healthy people sometimes believe that they would have been able\nto overcome the illness \u2013 they don\u2019t understand the reality that people with\nmental health issues face, and how unchosen and beyond their control it can\nactually be. I try to educate the non-sufferer to better understand what mental\nillness is, and that it is like any other illness, no different from a physical\nailment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are a number of reasons why both Stamp\nand Landsberg feel sport is a good entry point for this discussion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m a huge believer that the best way to break\npeople of the stigma is to find really strong people, like Clara Hughes, who\nhave struggled with this, to talk about it,\u201d said Landsberg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hughes, a Canadian cyclist and speed skater who\nhas won multiple Olympic medals in both sports, has struggled with depression.\n\u201cIf [Hughes] was close at the end of the race, she would win. If you find that\neven a person of that strength and accomplishment can suffer from depression,\nit changes your perspective,\u201d said Landsberg. \u201cEveryone with depression feels\nthat they are not understood, [but] when you hear someone else talk about it,\nthen you know we all feel some things in common, and \u2026 that is incredibly\nempowering. Real-life examples are great.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Landsberg has also partnered with firefighters\nwho suffer from mental health issues, encouraging them to share their stories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Landsberg and Stamp believe that reaching youth\nis key to changing the future, and sports can be key in doing that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have to help younger people to understand\nthat mental health concerns are a natural part of being alive,\u201d said Stamp. \u201cWe\nhave to do that much younger, like 6 or 7 years old. They need to know that\nwhen you feel distress, there is a way out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have to start with language,\u201d he said. \u201cHow\ndo we describe somebody who is struggling? Children can be injured by the\nlabels we use … we should be teaching youth and adults how to be listeners,\nhow to approach someone and see if they need help. Having some education around\na mental health problem is tremendously impactful. We need to be kinder,\ngentler and more empathic in our dealings with people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tickets to hear Landsberg speak are $10 and are available from jfsvancouver.ca<\/a> or 604-257-5151. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matthew Gindin<\/strong> is a freelance journalist, writer and\nlecturer. He is Pacific correspondent for the <\/em>CJN, writes regularly for\nthe <\/em>Forward, <\/em>Tricycle and the <\/em>Wisdom Daily, and has been\npublished in <\/em>Sojourners, <\/em>Religion Dispatches and elsewhere. He\ncan be found on Medium and Twitter.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael Landsberg will deliver the talk Darkness and Hope: Depression, Sport and Me on Feb. 13, as part of Jewish Family Services\u2019 Family Life Education Series. (photo from JFS) Michael Landsberg is a Canadian sports journalist and former host of Off the Record for TSN. He is also a passionate advocate for removing the stigma […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31720,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[6977,7702,7703,1997,6637,4508],"class_list":["post-31719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","tag-healthcare","tag-jewish-family-services","tag-jfs","tag-mental-health","tag-michael-landsberg","tag-sports"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}