PFA Canada delivering mental health support via leading athlete-led service provider

• At no cost to members, players in Canada can access confidential, reliable mental health guidance and support 

• PFA Canada have partnered with Onrise, a leading mental health service provider for elite athletes throughout North America

• Executive Director Dan Kruk and President Marco Carducci explain the benefits of the initiative and how it can be a stepping stone to multi-stakeholder cooperation in Canada

PFA Canada demonstrated its commitment to supporting players' wellbeing by announcing a partnership with Onrise, a leading mental health service provider for elite athletes throughout North America.

At no cost to members, players in Canada can access confidential, reliable mental health support and guidance.

"In our short five years of existence, we’ve had several members reach out, seeking mental health support. With a slight increase over the past two years, it was time to address the issue," says PFA Canada Executive Director Dan Kruk.

"And what explains the increase? It’s easy to point to the growing professionalism of Canada’s top-flight which has bred greater expectations and, at the same time, increased pressure upon the players. But for me, it goes deeper than that.

"As I see it – and as a parent of two young people – while our members balance professional football and the usual ups and downs of life, I believe younger people today are grappling with other stressors that are arguably exclusive to their generation. And for that reason, providing formal, fully confidential mental health support is the right thing to do."

The level of service the union has contracted with Onrise provides players with access to peer-to-peer counselling with qualified, former high-performance athletes via video conference or telephone. Members will also be invited to join their fellow professionals throughout North America for online wellbeing conferences put on by Onrise.

In the event frontline staff determine an athlete requires greater support beyond their own expertise, there is specialist assistance available such as access to a 24/7 emergency line for those needing immediate assistance. That tailored mental health support for players is something that has been firmly on the union’s radar since being founded five years ago.

"Around the halfway mark during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, I heard from a couple of members looking for assistance. They were young people a long way from family and familiar surroundings and feeling quite isolated," says Kruk. "Though teams did a tremendous job of keeping players connected with one another, many still experienced a strong sense of isolation.

"Since then, every season we’ve heard from others raising the issue either by a direct request for help or suggesting it would be something useful for the union to negotiate through collective bargaining."

'We’re ensuring our best selves turn up on matchday'

The Canadian Premier League is one of the fledging top-flights of the Americas, having kicked off in just 2019. What started as a seven-team league has since grown to eight clubs, covering five of Canada’s ten provinces.

As the league continues to deepen and strengthen the professional experience, the role of the union is vital in supporting players through the various phases of their careers.

"By providing confidential mental health support, far from the view of agents, fans, teams and so on, we’re not only supporting ourselves as a group and as individuals, but we’re also ensuring our best possible selves show up on matchday,” says Marco Carducci, PFA Canada’s President.