Nunavut coach helps athletes navigate mental-health challenges – Nunatsiaq News
May 22, 2023
Cambridge Bay wrestling coach Chris Crooks helped build online Mental Health and Sport Resource Hub
Beyond being a wrestling coach, Chris Crooks is a mentor.
He sees sport as a place where young athletes can open up about difficulty or trauma they have in their lives.
Crooks, 62, has been a coach for 40 years. After spending about 30 years as a teacher in southern Canada, he moved to Cambridge Bay with his wife, Paula, also a retired teacher, in 2015.
He’s part of the recently launched Mental Health and Sport Resource Hub, a website that helps coaches incorporate mental health into sport. The hub includes resources in Inuktitut.
“I believe I’ve always understood the importance of mental health before I came up North,” Crooks said.
“But the significance of mental health in the North is much greater than the south.”
