Severe Anxiety and Alcohol Problems: Samuel Girard Enters Gambling Assistance Program

Samuel Girard is already in his seventh year in the NHL. The Roberval-born defenseman is a Stanley Cup champion and has enjoyed a fine career overall.

And he’s doing it while representing his hometown.

That said, Girard’s case has been rather nebulous for the past two weeks. The player has missed a few games and hasn’t been seen in action since last Saturday.

It was worrying… especially as we weren’t sure what was bothering him.

Now we learn that Girard has just entered the NHL’s player assistance program.

Originally, we weren’t sure what his reason for entering the program was (the league protects players and doesn’t disclose reasons), but this time Girard decided to admit it himself.

It’s a problem of severe anxiety and depression that’s bothering him, and he says he’s been abusing alcohol. So he wants to get to the root of the problem, and tackle his own drinking in the process.

Of course, we wish all the best to the Quebec defenseman, who had the excellent idea of making a proactive decision by taking care of his mental health. He invites everyone to do the same, and to seek help if they feel the need.

It’s not unlike the case of Jonathan Drouin, who also went through the player assistance program for anxiety reasons in the spring of 2021. At least he got the help he needed.

Alcohol abuse is a fairly typical case ofself-medication to cope with anxiety disorders. Kudos to Girard for recognizing the spiral he was in and acting on it before it got any further out of hand.

We sincerely hope that this break will be beneficial to him and that he’ll be back on track as soon as possible.

Extension

Earlier today, Samuel’s father used his Facebook account to reassure us about his son. He didn’t want to get ahead of himself on the subject, but reiterated that his son is a fighter and that he’s in touch with him.

The kind messages about the defender are reaching out to him and touching him.