DIDSBURY -- After suffering a career ending hockey injury, Didsbury's Josie Hadway didn't know where to turn. The 19-year-old suffered through anxiety and depression when she realized that college hockey would no longer be part of her life.
Fortunately, Hadway had great support from her family and friends. After receiving that help, Hadway decided she wanted to help others by raising money for mental health awareness.
"I was kind of having my own struggles," said Hadway. "My main sport got taken away. It was a lot of just suffering from anxiety and depression. It really built up. I can't necessarily say it's from my concussions, but it's really increased from them."
She raised the money by donating the sale of a bull, which netted $18,000. The money was donated to three charities: Alberta Children's Hospital, The Do More Ag Foundation and Northland College Student Mental Health Group.
Her parents, Tom and Carol, own and operate Westway Farms just east of Didsbury, where she grew up.
As a youngster, Hadway was an accomplished hockey player. She attended the Edge School in Calgary from grades 10-12, where she took classes and played high-level hockey.
After graduation, Hadway went to Northland College in Wisconsin where she suited up for the women's hockey team. Unfortunately, after suffering from a number of concussions she was told she wouldn't be able to play hockey again.
Although she won't be playing hockey anymore, Hadway plans to finish her schooling at Northland, where she is studying sustainable entrepreneurship and sustainable agriculture and community development.
"It's right on Lake Superior, which is absolutely beautiful," she said. "The north woods are absolutely beautiful as well. I originally went there for hockey. I got scouted, which is how I found out about the school. Even though I'm not playing hockey I love the school. They focus on the environment a lot."
Hadway took a medical leave last year from Northland College and returned to the farm from May until January.
She returned to the school in February for the second semester of her sophomore (second) year.
"After I really went through something I started to think," she said. "I haven't really had many conversations about mental health with people in the agricultural industry. That's something (agriculture) that my family is really close to, obviously.
"Once my family began to understand a bit more, I said, I think we need to play our part in mental health and agriculture and bring some kind of awareness because it's not where it should be."
Hadway and her parents decided that donating a bull from their annual bull sale would be a good starting point.
"It was one bull," she said. "We had a bunch of donations and the lot got donated back and resold. We ended up making $18,000. We were also selling bracelets."
It was important for Hadway to donate to charities involved in mental health, which were the Alberta Children's Hospital Foundation and its Build Them Up Centre for Child and Adolescent Mental Health; The Do More Ag Foundation, a not-for-profit organization that focuses on mental health in agriculture across Canada; and the mental health group from her school, Northland College.
"What really made me want to go through with this was hearing that farming has one of the highest rates of suicide in Canada," she said. "After hearing that and thinking that not many people talk about mental health in agriculture.
"How many people are suffering? How many people could we potentially help? They don't even have to stand up and tell their story. Maybe we can help motivate them to get the help they need."
