Broncos crash survivor talks about leadership at student event in Prince Albert

Smith tried to play the year after the crash, but returning to the billet home where he lived with a teammate who was no longer there, and seeing cubby holes of teammates who died, sitting empty on either side of his in the dressing room proved to be too much.

His said his billet parents recognized he was struggling and responded immediately.

“I got a massive hug from my billet dad. I got a massive hug from billet mama,” Smith said.

“She bear hugged me, the biggest hug I’ve probably ever received in my entire life, and she looked me dead in the eyes and said, ‘You’re going to promise me that you seek help;,” he said.

Smith was still operating from the point of view that it was wrong to dump his trauma on the people around him.

He told the group of assembled university and Grade 12 students that her leadership helped him realize that she was being hurt by watching his pain.

“Whatever it may be, I don’t want anybody in this room to ever get to that place. I need to say the three most vulnerable words that could ever be said as a human being – ‘I need help. I can’t do this alone anymore’.”

His billet mother showed one type of leadership that benefited him greatly and led to a big shift in his perspective.

“That day she led with empathy, she led with compassion, she led with emotion.”

He did seek therapy and loved it. In fact, he still goes. The therapist completed her main task of creating a space for him to not be alone.

His second leader in life is now his wife, who led by being open about herself from the beginning of their relationship.

“Right from the jump, she was very open with her mental health, very open with her struggle with anxiety and depression, the fact that she’s on medication.”

The fact that she could be open about her own story without pushing it on him, he said, helped him gain empathy. The courage to show her weaknesses also helped him connect more to her.

“There’s a ton of courage and a ton of strength and a ton of bravery attached to that. There’s a connection with her that leads to that conversation that completely shifts my perspective.”

As a self-admitted ‘mama’s boy’, Smith said his third leader is his mother, who lost her own mother at age 12 due to mental health challenges.

“She became the woman of their house to her three older brothers at 12 years old. She was literally cooking dinners for everybody in the house because my grandpa was working.”

He said he hopes to one day gain a bigger appreciation of her approach to trauma – that everything happens for a reason.

According to the organizers, the leader forum happens every two years. This year’s event featured two speakers with local author Cody Demarais as the second guest to make a presentation.

Mental health services in Saskatchewan can be found by clicking here.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com

On BlueSky: @susanmcneil.bsky.social

by Susan McNeil

Broncos crash survivor talks about leadership at student event in Prince Albert

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