Page 74 of The Attack Zone

3.3 million: The number of people currently living with bipolar disorder in the U.S.

Iam one of the 3.3 million.

For the many of you non-hockey fans reading this who may not be aware, I’m Mitch Greggs, defenseman for the Colorado Blizzards, and I have bipolar disorder.

You might be wondering why I took out a full-page ad in the paper to say that. Well, recently a gossip blog posted photos of me picking up a prescription, including the label of the medication I take. Their caption said some wildly inaccurate and stigmatizing things, and I want to take a moment to talk about it.

It was hurtful to me, for sure, to have my personal medical information posted on the internet and framed in such a negative way. But this isn’t about me. This is about the thousands, maybe even millions at this point, of people who experience mental illness who read that caption. The post wasn’t just hurtful to me, it was harmful to the millions of us who live with mental illness, and I want to talk about why.

The facts above are just some of the alarming figures we’re facing as a society when it comes to mental health. We lose a person to suicide every 10.9 minutes in the U.S. And make no mistake, stigmatizing mental health is a major factor here. It means people refuse to go to therapy because of how we as a society paint it as weak, they don’t take their prescribed medication because of the shame they feel for needing it, they don’t call the suicide hotline because they’re so afraid of judgment and don’t think they deserve help. And before we know it, it’s too late.

So to post something so egregiously stigmatizing is not only hurtful to me personally, it’s incredibly dangerous. In the age of social media and the internet, we all have a responsibility to do our best to not cause harm, and to say this post missed the mark would be the understatement of the century.

Now, let me just say, I have a massive amount of privilege. I’m a semi-famous white man who makes millions of dollars and has some of the best healthcare this country offers. My coaches and the team medical staff have worked hand-in-hand with my mental healthcare team over the years, and they’ve done so without judgment. I have a wonderful support system of friends who have helped me through tough times. But I’ve still struggled. I can only imagine what people who don’t have access to the same help and support are going through. Getting access to mental healthcare is hard enough in thiscountry (don’t even get me started on homelessness and incarceration rates of folks with mental illness ...). Let’s not make it harder by putting in place false barriers like stigma and shame.

Now, I’m not just saying all of this to say it. I want to do something about it. And while I don’t quite know what that is yet, I want to use the rest of this space to share some resources for anyone who may be struggling right now. You are not alone, I’m right here fighting by your side.

All my love,

Mitch Greggs

Dial 988 for the National Mental Health Emergency Hotline

Text 741741 to reach the Crisis Text Line

LGBTQ+ youth can reach The Trevor Project at 866-488-7386

CHAPTER 37

MITCH

“I’m so proud of you,” Stacey says, laying her head on my shoulder.

I wrap an arm around her and guide her to the couch. We’ve barely taken a moment to stop since we started putting together the ad, and I want to talk to her. As we both sit down, my eyes fall on the bouquet of flowers I brought her the other day. I see the little card peeking out of the edge and I know that it’s finally time.

“Hey,” I say. “You never opened it.”

“Opened what?” she asks. I point to the card in the flowers. “Oh, I guess I didn’t. Are there more Blizzards tickets in there or something?”

I laugh, remembering the first flowers I ever sent her last year included a ticket to a home game. “No. Open it.”

She reaches for the envelope and pulls out the card. I can see it over her shoulder, written in my own handwriting this time.