A Kelowna hockey player, who recently played for the Okanagan Rockets and will soon suit up for the Kelowna Chiefs, got a special shout out on Wednesday.
Concern for a teammate a couple of years ago resulted in Myles Mattila volunteering at a mental health office and participating in youth programs.
Now, he’s a mental health advocate for MindCheck, a partner with the Canadian Mental Health Association that works closely with the Vancouver Canucks as well.
Playing for the Cariboo Cougars in Prince George this year, Mattila created MindRight in an effort to help young athletes who are going through tough times get the help they need.
“Up in the north it's really hard to make sure that youth and athletes know where to go if they are struggling,” Mattila told KelownaNow. “So I thought I'd create a website to make sure they get the proper support instead of going in the wrong direction.”
His work and achievements earned him one of four Trevor Linden Community Spirit Scholarships earlier this month, as well as BC Hockey’s 2017 Chair of the Board Award.
On Wednesday, he got some special recognition for those awards and all his hard work from the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau.
“A young player making a difference,” tweeted Trudeau. “Congratulations (Myles Mattila) on your (BC Hockey Source) award for promoting youth mental health.”
A young player making a difference - congratulations @myles_mattila12 on your @BCHockey_Source award for promoting youth mental health.
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) June 29, 2017
Mattila says he saw the notification from Justin Trudeau, but couldn’t read the tweet because it was in French, until the English version popped up on his feed shortly after.
“Right away I ran upstairs and told my parents and my family,” Mattila explained. “They didn't really believe me at first until they saw for themselves. I was pretty ecstatic, it just puts a big smile on my face every time I think about it or look at the tweet so it's pretty exciting.”
After spending last season in Prince George playing for the Cariboo Cougars, Mattila will return to Kelowna next season to join the Kelowna Chiefs.
Mattila only moved back to the Okanagan a few days ago, but is already thinking about what kind of impact he can make in Kelowna.
“I've been talking with Steve Mathias, who's the coordinator who started Foundry, and I'd really like to be an advocate for them,” said Mattila. “Also, jack.org. I've been talking to them and they really want to let me go through this program this summer so I can go throughout Canada and do some presentations to local high schools about mental health."
And once hockey season starts up again, there won’t be any rest for Mattila.
He hopes to get his new league, the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League, on board for a program similar to MindRight.
One thing's for sure, there aren't a ton of teenagers making a bigger positive impact on the world than Myles Mattila.
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