As a champion cyclist and speed skater, Clara Hughes is one of only five athletes in Olympic history to win medals at both the winter and summer games, and is indeed the only person ever to have won multiple medals in both. She also became the first Canadian woman to win an Olympic medal in road cycling, winning two in Atlanta in 1996.
Closer to home, Hughes - who suffered a bout of clinical depression while at the pinnacle of her athletic career - is one of Canada's leading mental health advocates working to combat the stigma that still surrounds mental illness. In 2013 she initiated annual bike rides across Canada in order to raise awareness about mental health, and as the national spokesperson for Bell's Let's Talk mental health campaign, Hughes has become the country's leading public face of this important issue.
On March 8, 2017, Hughes will share her raw but ultimately life-affirming story about overcoming depression and breaking the silence around it, at an evening event at the Timms Centre for the Arts. Her presentation - Open Heart, Open Mind - is presented by Dentons and co-hosted by UAlberta Law, the Alberta Lawyers' Assistance Society (Assist), and CPA Assist.
The event comes amid a growing awareness of mental illness within the legal profession. Recent studies have shown that lawyers suffer from depression at a significantly higher rate than the general public, at a rate of around 30 per cent among male lawyers and 20 per cent among female lawyers. Moreover, studies have found that the fear of stigma is a powerful inhibitor in detection and recovery within the profession, particularly among law students and junior lawyers.
"Mental health and wellness for law students and lawyers has been a signature priority of my Deanship and I'm proud of the way in which UAlberta Law students in particular have led the way in fostering student mental health and wellness and increasing awareness of the resources available to law students and lawyers," said Dean Paul Paton.
The Law Students' Association's Mental Health and Wellness Committee was created in the summer of 2014 to change the dialogue around mental health issues for both students in law school and for graduates entering the legal profession. A pilot program arranged by Dean Paton with Assist has provided free on-site counselling and referral services for law students since Fall 2015. In December 2016, more than 250 students took advantage of the service.
"We have a duty to our students to provide access to mental health and wellness information and resources, not only to help break the stigma surrounding mental illness, but also to better equip our students as they enter a challenging profession," said Dean Paton.
"Back in 2013, I wrote that the time was long overdue for the legal profession to engage in both introspection and action on mental health and wellness, just as others had done. The awareness and initiatives since then have been outstanding. We're making important strides but still have a long way to go. Clara Hughes' powerful story is a testament that even the physically strongest, most resilient among us may be challenged by mental illness, and that we need to be ready to seek support for ourselves or for those around us. I was inspired by Clara's outstanding address at UAlberta Fall Convocation in 2014, and am thrilled that she has accepted our invitation - working with Assist and the chartered accountants of Alberta - to return to help us promote mental health awareness."
For more information on Hughes' visit or to purchase tickets: http://bit.ly/2gYKhzv