Ottawa Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson is taking on the stigma of mental illness and is lending his name and profile to a mental health awareness campaign in the Capital.
"It is a disease like anything else. You can't see it the same way as you can with a lot of others," Alfredsson told reporters on Wednesday.
The hockey star says his sister struggles with mental illness and there are too many people who have mental health issues and don't seek the treatment they need.
"You hear about people that have kids that struggle with maybe mental illness but they don't seek help because it might be a bad thing to be associated with mental health problems at that age," he said.
Alfredsson says he hopes his profile will help draw attention to the issue and eliminate some of the stigma associated with mental illness.
