The Civic Centre was the venue for quite possibly the biggest mental health event ever in the Battlefords on Thursday.
It was #SickNotWeak in The Battlefords, spearheaded by TSN host Michael Landsberg. The show was sponsored and produced by Cameco, with a crowd estimated at around 3,000 packing the Civic Centre. While it was a free show, donations were accepted afterwards going towards the local Canadian Mental Health Association.
Landsberg, who has documented his own battle with depression, operates the #SickNotWeak charity devoted to mental health.
“It’s a gift to be able to come to a community and to try to make a tiny bit of a difference,” Landsberg said in speaking to the News-Optimist.
“That’s all our expectations are. I tell everyone that’s involved with what we do it’s all about the humility. If you come to a place like North Battleford or the Battlefords and you think you’re going to change everything, you know what, go back home. Our goal is to make a tiny bit of a difference and maybe make a difference in someone’s life and maybe a month from now somebody else’s life, and if you reach one person sometimes you reach a lot more.”
The event came together after the Battlefords was hit by suicide tragedy involving young people in the community, including three people within the span of a month at the beginning of the year. Two of those were students at the North Battleford Comprehensive High School.
For Landsberg personally, North Battleford is a place with special personal meaning for him. He’s well aware of the community because of his friendship with Wade Belak, the NHL player from the Battlefords who took his own life back in 2011.
Landsberg remains close with Lorraine and Barry Belak, Wade’s parents, who live in the Battlefords.
“I’ve never been, but it’s always been a place that meant something to me because it was Wade’s home and because I keep in touch with his parents.”
It also has special meaning because of Tyson Williams, a Battlefords resident who was on the verge of taking his own life when Landsberg connected with him and eventually convinced him to seek help.
This happened shortly after an interview Landsberg did with NHL player Stephane Richer in which both opened up about their experiences with depression. That interview prompted Williams to contact Landsberg and share his own struggles.
“Now you have two reasons why North Battleford is significant to me. And I have a charity and the goal is to come to a community that needs something, not necessarily needs us but needs something.”
It was a friend in the mental health area, Emily Gill, whose boyfriend is from North Battleford (hockey player Colby Cave), who notified Landsberg via Twitter about the suicide tragedies there and urged him to do something to help.
“Well, the result of ‘we should do something’ is ‘something that we are doing’ which is this.”
Landsberg quickly rounded up a number of people to participate in the event. Not surprisingly, there was a big sports component.
Landsberg contacted Chris Getzlaf and he quickly said “I’m in,” and also convinced another former Roughrider great Weston Dressler to participate as well.
Landsberg also wanted a big music component to the show and sought out people he knew who had a strong connection to the area.
Lined up was country music artist Beverley Mahood, well-known in Saskatchewan from her many appearances on Telemiracle and a frequent guest of Landsberg’s Off the Record show.
Lined up for the rock component was One Bad Son out of Saskatoon, who have played North Battleford before. Shortly after asking them, Landsberg said he had gotten a note from the band, thanking him for being asked to join the show.
“When someone’s a big deal and they thank you for asking them, that’s just a really lovely gesture and they were engaged right away.”
Landsberg also noted the importance of having “strong female voices” as part of the show, which is why TSN’s Tessa Bonhomme, who won a gold medal with Canada's Olympic women's hockey team, joined as well.
“To be honest with you, it was easy,” Landsberg said of the effort to line up all these big names.
“People that you want to get who have a certain aspect of them that is dominated by the idea of ‘I want to do something good for society’ -- those people are really easy to get. And the people that don’t have that are impossible to get, but in the end you don’t want them anyway. So it’s an interesting process because like I said, people either say ‘yes, I’m in 100 percent, oh my gosh I want to do this’ or they say no. They very seldom say ‘oh you know what, maybe.’”
But the stars had some compelling reasons to be part of the show, as it turned out. Mahood told the audience that she had suffered from depression her entire life. One Bad Son singer Shane Volk also told his struggles with mental illness.
Emily Gill was on hand as well to tell her story, and early on Landsberg had a chance to reunite with Tyson Williams on stage.
In all, it was a night of music and some laughs, but also one offering hope to those suffering from mental illness. And for those who weren't afflicted, it was a chance to learn and to listen.
Key to the entire effort was Cameco, who Landsberg describes as one of the two parents of the show -- the other being his charity #SickNotWeak. Cameco was the one responsible not only for providing the money to put the event on, but for booking the venue, setting the chairs up and handling the media.
In all, the intention was to provide an upbeat and entertaining atmosphere to deliver the serious message Landsberg wanted to bring to the Battlefords.
“I wanted to make it something special and the best way to get people to listen to your message is to actually find the whole experience enjoyable. It makes the important stuff easier to deliver when people go ‘yeah, you know what, I’m having fun, I’m listening to some music'.”
The goal was simple: to make a difference and provide some inspiration for the massive audience in attendance.
“Hopefully it will bring them some hope,” said Landberg. “You can’t tell people to have hope. You can show them what hope looks like and feels like.”
While the North Battleford stop was perhaps the highlight of Landsberg’s tour, it was one of a number of stops. He made a presentation to students in Shellbrook earlier Thursday and was due to go to Fond-du-Lac on Friday before heading to Regina on Saturday. It’s all part of Landsberg’s nationwide effort with his #SickNotWeak charity to show that mental illness is an illness, and not something to keep silent about.
“I do this because I found out one day in 2009 that simply by telling my story of struggling with depression that I could save somebody’s life,” Landsberg said.
“I do this because I can and because I know what it’s worth to people. And now, at this point, I would say that if I didn’t do it, knowing how easy it is for me to do this, to get an audience, because I enjoy I mean I love to perform and be on stage and be on camera. I have no hesitation about talking about my message, so shame on me if I don’t do it.”
Landsberg offered his final thoughts on being in the Battlefords.
“#SickNotWeak is here to give you an ear and give you a voice. Having a voice to people with mental health challenges is hugely important. And having an ear, if you have a mental health challenge, is hugely important. Because you start off as the voice, ‘I need help,’ and then all of a sudden you find 'I’m listening to someone else and I am the help.’ It’s weird how that happens and sometimes you don’t even realize that’s happened.”
