If you ever feel you require a place to chat, a bench officially installed at the Centre Wellington Community Sportsplex Thursday is now an option. The Buddy Bench is a part of #GetinTouchforHutch, a campaign in the honour of Steven Hutchison.
The local tragically committed suicide in 2013. The death came as a shock to the community, as the "son, brother, friend and teammate" Hutchison was suffering in silence.
"Since Steven’s passing, #GetInTouchForHutch has connected with many youth to educate and provide training, tools and resources relating to Suicide Awareness and Mental Health. Funds raised have exceeded $225,000. This allows for the ability to continue assisting young people in building the skills and abilities that they need to improve their emotional health and well-being," the Get In Touch For Hutch website states.
The Buddy Bench aims to start the conversation and give people a place to share.
Centre Wellington Minor Lacrosse staff say this is bigger than sport. President Nathan Joyes says COVID-19 made it clear that while physical health is important, mental wellbeing is paramount as well. Joyes added he wants to end the idea that it's not acceptable to discuss mental health struggles.
"The importance of the bench is just to bring about suicide awareness and fight against the stigma that it's not okay to talk about it," Joyes said.
"Myrna with Get in Touch for Hutch has done such a great job at bringing about the opportunities to create those conversations," he added.
Joyes added one of the main goals when putting in the bench was to find a spot that's prevalent in the community and draws a lot of traffic.
"Visibility is key. Being able to see this and being able to create these conversations about something that is so critical and necessary to talk about within the community is important," Joyes explained.
"That's why we felt that being able to place it within the Centre Wellington Sportsplex and hopefully the Elora Community Centre once that's reopened as well is going to be something that's absolutely crucial," he concluded.
40-plus benches have been installed in schools throughout Upper Grand District School Board. There are also two within the Arthur community.
Listen to the CICW story below: