Local non-profit 'Inside the box' partners with Hockey Regina to promote mental health in athletes

A local non-profit, Inside the Box, has partnered with Hockey Regina to provide mental health and wellness seminars to all U13 to U18 players this season.

Inside the Box is youth founded and ran with the goal of changing the culture of sport in Regina and the province by educating athletes, starting conversations and encouraging reflection.

Paige Hamann, 21, founded Inside the Box in 2020 and now the organization is finally in a spot to be doing what they set out to do.

The partnership with Hockey Regina is the group’s first opportunity to provide their courses to teams.

“It’s going to be all of Hockey Regina’s U13 to U18 teams,” Hamann explained. “So there’s quite a few athletes we’ll be able to talk to and hopefully we’ll be able to make a change that way.”

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The seminars have been specifically tailored to Hockey Regina and will focus on putting the human first and the athlete second, the importance of communication, and dealing with pressure and confidence.

“We kind of want to do a preventative approach so that these athletes have tools to take forward and make sure that they have support before things get bad,” Hamann added.

Each team, both boys and girls from AAA to Tier 3, will participate in an hour long interactive seminar facilitated by Inside the Box.

There will be a speaker with a hockey background, and players will have the chance to reflect, discuss and open up anonymously.

The sessions will be carried out for each team in order to promote building a culture, both within their individual teams, as well as the overall Hockey Regina community.

Hockey Regina said the partnership is a step in the right direction when it comes to maintaining the mental health of their athletes.

Joanne Eberle, media and events manager with Hockey Regina, said the organization recognizes how important mental health is and were looking for the right avenue to help their athletes deal with pressures, whether it be externally from coaches or parents, or internally.

She added they are looking to provide their athletes the tools they would need to recognize struggle in themselves or in teammates.

“We might be able to help them at a team level and just with some things that are specific to athletes,” Eberle said.

“Like if they get injured they may have some issues wrapping their head around the fact they might not be fitting into the team the way they were when they were on the ice.”

Hockey Regina is impressed by Inside the Box’s “by the athletes to athletes" model, and said it is important to have presenters who have been in their shoes to make them more relatable.

“I think a lot of times athletes are told to be tough, to be mentally tough, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re mentally well,” Eberly said.

“If your mental health is not on the right track, nothing else is going to be and I think that there are just unique pressures they face.”

She said, overall, Hockey Regina is trying to introduce their players to the fact that you can still be a good athlete while also keeping track of your mental health.

The seminars are set to begin on Sept. 26 and are set to run through to December as over 70 different Hockey Regina teams cycle through their session.

In the future, Hamann said she hopes to see Inside the Box hosting similar seminars for other athletic organizations, tailoring the courses for the specific needs of those athletes.

She also said the course could be adapted to younger athletes as well.

“They’re never too young to start talking about these things,” said Hamann, who started Inside the Box when she was 18.

After losing a teammate to suicide while in high school, Hamann decided she wanted to inspire a change.

“If I can make a change in this small community, then hopefully other organizations and aspects of life can make changes too.”