Theoren Fleury is looking forward to coming back to southeast Saskatchewan to help the Envision Counselling and Support Centre celebrate its 25th anniversary.
Fleury will lead a workshop May 15 at McKenna Hall in Weyburn to discuss issues related to trauma, and will be the keynote speaker at a luncheon in Estevan May 16 at the Power Dodge Curling Centre.
“I will be sharing a little bit about my story, and also having a conversation with my audience,” Fleury said in an interview with the Mercury.
Fleury played 15 seasons in the NHL, and posted 1,088 points in 1,084 career games. He also won a Stanley Cup in 1989 with the Calgary Flames, and an Olympic gold medal in 2002 with Team Canada.
But he gained national attention after his playing days were finished in 2009, when he released his best-selling novel Playing with Fire. He revealed that he was a victim of sexual abuse by his former hockey coach, Graham James.
Since those revelations, he has released a second book, Conversations with a Rattlesnake, has become a highly sought-after public speaker and has launched a Theoren Walk that shows support for victims of abuse.
When he brought the Victor Walk to Estevan in July 2017, he worked in conjunction with Envision.
“I think they’re an absolutely amazing organization that provides some incredible services to the people of Estevan and the surrounding area,” said Fleury. “I met a lot of people who had used Envision’s services, and were themselves on a pathway of healing and self-discovery as well.
“I’m very blessed and fortunate to be working with this group again in a couple of weeks here.”
Fleury said he loves to work with an agency or organization that provides services to people who have experienced any kind of trauma.
“I felt the Victor Walk that we did in Estevan was probably one of the best days that we had on the whole, entire Victor Walk. It was well-organized, and there were lots of people out there.”
The number of participants for the walk that day, and the number of people who gathered at the Estevan Court House for a rally, represented one of the largest crowds in the history of the walk.
Fleury was born in Oxbow, and while he moved to Russell, Man., when he was a child, he still has a lot of family and friends in the southeast region. Each time he comes back to Estevan, it feels like a homecoming.
The workshop, meanwhile, is an opportunity to discuss trauma, mental health and addiction. All three of those issues are connected, he said, and Fleury wants people to understand the process of healing and what it takes.
Fleury said he’s now on the road about 250 days per year through the workshops and the public speaking engagements.
“I believe the biggest epidemic on the planet is trauma, mental health and addiction,” said Fleury.
There are so many people who suffer from issues connected to those three problems.
“Because I speak very openly and honestly and vulnerably about my experience, it helps with their own experience,” he said.
When he released Playing with Fire nearly a decade ago, he never imagined the reaction it would receive or the impact it would have on the lives of so many people.
“I didn’t realize the enormity of the epidemic of trauma, mental health and addiction. But I took it in stride, and just tried to help as many people as I could, either individually or in a group setting or wherever it was.”
He wants to share his story as much as he can.
And he’ll be continuing with the Victor Walk later this year, ensuring that people continue to hear his message about overcoming trauma. A location for the 2019 Victor Walk has not been determined.
