Now entering his 18th season with the Bruins, it's safe to say Patrice Bergeron has seen a lot of changes during his NHL career.
Many of those changes have played out on the ice, but there's one area off the ice where Bergeron has seen a major shift that he's encouraged by, and that's how mental health is discussed and viewed.
It's an issue that rose to the surface throughout last season, with numerous NHL players, including Bruins forward Chris Wagner, opening up about mental health struggles they were dealing with during a year marred by COVID-19.
On an international scale, discussions by and around gymnastics star Simone Biles and tennis star Naomi Osaka brought a renewed focus to athletes' mental health, with many other stars around the sports world coming to their defense amid public criticism.
Bergeron sees these more open discussions as an important step forward not just in the hockey and sports worlds, but for society as a whole, contrasting it with a culture earlier in his career that viewed mental health as a topic that was "almost taboo."
"I think it's something that, I guess earlier in my career it was not something we were talking a lot about, even though it was still very important," Bergeron said Monday. "It was something that was almost taboo at times and frowned upon. I think it's great that it's a little bit more out there and that people realize that it's OK at times to be vulnerable and it's OK to ask for and seek help. It's important to do.
"For us as athletes, I think we have a platform to show that we also go through some of that stuff, and that it's important to reach out. I've said that many times, to not suffer alone. I think for me, it's been a learning process over my career, where there's been a lot of ups and downs. There's a lot of pressure, I guess, and expectations -- from yourself, from the outside, from your team, whatever that is.
"There's also a lot of personal matters as well that come into play and you have to deal with as a regular, normal human being. I think there's a lot of things that go with that question. There's a lot of things you need to realize, that it's OK to ask and to seek help and to have those conversations. It's OK to reach out to your teammates or your work colleagues or friends to help in that matter."
Bergeron pointed to the increased prevalence of sports psychologists as an important development, citing Dr. Stephen Durant, the co-director of sports psychology at Massachusetts General Hospital who works with both the Bruins and Red Sox.
"Personally, I know we're trying to help each other," Bergeron said. "We obviously have some people, sports psychologists, and Steve Durant has been amazing for us for so many years, that help us a lot with that aspect of a game, the mental part of it and mental health."
Bergeron also talked about the importance of "getting away" from hockey sometimes, something that was extra challenging last season with so few opportunities for players to go anywhere other than the rink, home or team hotel.
"Sure. I think it's really important to do that as well," Bergeron said. "As I said, I've talked about the vulnerable part of things. It's OK to have a bad day. It's totally normal. It's OK to feel down or whatnot. It's about what you're able to accept and what you want to do with it and how you want to handle that.
"I think getting away from -- for myself, it's getting away from hockey at times. I have three kids that I have to chase around on a daily basis. I think that helps me get away from the game, and I think it's been great that way to be a dad. If I want to get out of the rink, it kind of helps me put things in perspective and be thankful for everything life has given me. It's all that stuff, but you're right -- to get away from things and try to empty your mind is very important as a professional athlete."
