Content Warning: Talk of death by suicide, suicidal ideation, and sexual abuse

Dr. T and Truth Fairy welcome former NHL hockey player Corey Hirsch to the podcast to talk about medicine and mental health. Corey was drafted by the New York Rangers and played many seasons for the Vancouver Canucks but after retiring from playing hockey and becoming a coach and Sportsnet analyst, he turned his life and his focus to mental health. Corey is a firm believer in psychedelic medicine and wants to remove the stigma of its use in sports communities.

Corey shares his mental health journey and his battle with OCD with Dr. T and Truth Fairy and describes how he ventured into psychedelics two years ago after not finding the right therapeutic fit in other modalities. He found his way “back to his life”, as he puts it, and ascribes a great sense of hope and relief to psychedelics. The different perspective he gained and his positive experience led him to his fight against stigma today. Corey also talks openly about how death by suicide has impacted him personally and the peace medicine gave him around that trauma.

Truth Fairy describes how she met Corey and Corey shares the story behind that meeting, in which he experienced an intense journey into self-love after some medicine. One of the things Corey stresses is how working with medicine has opened him up and given him compassion and more love in life. Dr. T, Truth Fairy, and Corey discuss the intricacies of OCD and where it stems from, examine the emotional abuse inherent in a hockey player’s career, and examine Corey’s newfound purpose in life. This episode shines a light on how useful psychedelic medicine can be as applied to mental health and how the stigma only hurts people’s opportunities to experience this type of healing for themselves.

“It gives me a different perspective. You know, it's amazing when you sit with psychedelics and you think, oh, this person screwed me over or this happened or that happened, and it shows you a different angle of it. And it's like, wow, I did not even think of that perspective, right? And it's taught me to venture into things with kindness and love.” - Corey Hirsch

About Corey Hirsch:

By the time he was 21 years old Corey Hirsch had drunk from the Stanley Cup and won a silver medal at the Winter Olympics, but these accomplishments no longer mattered to him. Born in Medicine Hat and raised in Calgary, he was drafted by the New York Rangers and played for many seasons with the Vancouver Canucks. After retiring from play, Hirsch became an NHL coach for elite goaltenders and prospects, and later an analyst with Sportsnet. Dedicated to ending the stigma of mental health, he is also a co-host of The Players’ Tribune podcast, Blindsided. In October 2022 Corey released his first book—The Save of My Life—a compelling look behind the mask of a professional hockey player that offers both understanding and hope to anyone living with mental illness.

Website: CoreyHirsch.com

Book: “The Save of My Life” by Corey Hirsch

Podcast: Blindsided

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