Brock McGillis: The Locker Room Should Be Disneyland, Vulnerable is Brave & Why Words Matter

About this episode

Brock McGillis discusses the challenges of being openly gay in professional hockey and the urgent need for action in addressing mental health issues in sports.

⚠️ This episode deals with serious topics including mental health, self-harm, and abuse. If you or someone you know needs support, contact Kids Help Phone (1-800-668-6868) or the Suicide Crisis Helpline (988). Brock McGillis became the first openly gay player to have played professional hockey, but the path to that moment nearly cost him everything. Depression. Daily drinking. Self-harm. A sport culture that told him, in a thousand small ways every day, that he couldn't be himself. Today Brock runs the Shift Makers tour, visiting over 250 hockey teams across Canada in a single season. What he finds in those rooms is alarming: over a thousand players disclosing thoughts of self-harm or suicide, thousands more sharing mental health struggles, and more than 50 who had never told anyone they'd been sexually assaulted — until they told him. In this conversation, Brock talks about why sport culture continues to silence young people, what true inclusion actually looks like versus what organizations claim it looks like, and why the answer isn't more analysis — it's action. He also shares the story of Brendan Burke, whose friendship and tragic death became the catalyst for everything…

People in this episode

Host: Scott Rintoul

Guest: Brock McGillis

Topics covered

• mental health
• sports culture
• inclusion
• self-harm
• youth sports

Keywords

• mental health
• self-harm
• hockey
• inclusion
• youth sports
• Brendan Burke
• Brock McGillis

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Kids Help Phone, Suicide Crisis Helpline

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