It’s Bell Lets Talk Day, an annual event to raise awareness for mental health and a former Kamloopsian is again weighing in.

Former Blazer and NHL goaltender Corey Hirsch has been very open about his struggles with mental illness.

While appearing on the NL Morning News, Hirsch said people should reach out to those in need, but they aren’t always easy to spot. “You know, just talking to people and just asking them if they’re okay.”

“The thing about mental health is it truly does take a village because we can’t see it. You can’t see somebody’s mental health. If somebody’s got a broken leg with a bone sticking out of the side, you’re like Dude, you’ve got a broken leg, you can see that right? But mental health, you can’t see it.”

Hirsch says just being there with an open mind and open ears goes a lot farther than most of us realize. “It doesn’t have to be a diagnosable condition. It can just be, like we just talked about, some anxiety, some depression in your life and again like I said it’s about just listening to people and not judging them for feeling sad of feeling anxious. That it is real and we need to help them.”

“Make sure that if someone is struggling, to ask them, to just be able to talk and listen. It’s not about judgement or solving people’s problems, it’s about just listening and you now, if someone needs help, encouraging them to get help. There’s no shame in going and getting help for mental health, there really isn’t.”

Bell contributes five cents to mental health every time the Twitter hashtag #letstalk is used today.

Over the years those nickels have added up to more than 100 million dollars.

Photo: Twitter