Jukka Jalonen considers it important that mental health problems have also started to be talked about in hockey.
Joel Sippola,
Hinn Hirvonen
Columbus Blue Jackets’ Finnish forward Patrick Laine said on his Instagram account that he applied for the NHL players’ support program for reasons related to mental health.
– Ice hockey has been my passion and my life, but in order to be able to play at my best level, I have to take time for myself, Laine stated, among other things.
The head coach of the Finnish men’s national ice hockey team, who knows Laine through the World Junior Championships eight years ago Jukka Jalonen gives value to the Finnish player’s courage to seek help.
– If you join the treatment program, then you’re on the right track and it’s real. It’s a great thing that he has come to such a solution. If you have experienced that there are some problems, it is good to fix them.
– Ice hockey is just ice hockey. However, the rest of life is more important, Jalonen adds.
In recent years, many top athletes have openly talked about their mental health challenges. So do hockey players.
Jalonen is happy with the trend.
– A very important thing, because there are also problems with mental health. All people can have them, regardless of what they do for a living.
– It requires courage, but I believe that it also gives you the opportunity to be brave and, for example, bravely go to treatment. It will certainly help in civilian life and in my own profession in the future.
Players in the support program are paid as usual. For example, players suffering from various addictions or mental health problems have been directed there.
Laine last played a month and a half ago.
The support program of the NHL and its players’ association, the NHLPA, is intended for players and their families who struggle with, for example, substance abuse or mental health problems.
The program gives players, for example, a confidential telephone hotline, and there are support program instructors in every league city.
There is no set time for the player to spend in the program. However, the player cannot leave the program until the people running it have given permission.
Players’ privacy is the core of the program, so events or reasons for joining the program are not disclosed to the public. However, the athletes themselves can report the matter if they wish.
The support program was established in 1996.