r“No one cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.”
After losing his son Jesse to suicide at 22, Stu Gershman chose to talk openly about mental health in an unlikely place: the locker room.
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+ 20 more official selections
The Film
After losing his son Jesse Short-Gershman to suicide at age 22, Dr. Stu Gershman, a father, physician, and coach, chose to talk openly about his grief.
He began by bringing that conversation into the locker room. A coach-led talk that equips young athletes to check in on themselves and on one another, to notice the signs of struggle, and to feel permission to speak up. Green hockey tape, the colour of mental health, became the program’s symbol.
What started as a yearly locker room chat has grown into a multi-sport mental health awareness program called Buddy Check for Jesse, reaching youth in hockey, basketball, soccer, softball, and volleyball teams across BC, Manitoba, and all across Canada.
Jesse’s impact and story lives on, helping change the lives of young athletes, parents, and coaches, and recently sparking a national dialogue through Hockey Day in Canada.
Stu & Jesse Short-Gershman, 1999
The program expands beyond hockey, 2021
Hockey Day in Canada, 2024
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A Youth Voice
“People my age and even older have reached out and said that this story has changed their life; and being a 17-year-old kid, it really opened my eyes to how important this is.”
The Program
A Buddy Check event is simple by design. The program puts the conversation in the hands of the people young athletes already trust most, their coaches, and gives them the tools to lead it well.
A coach, league, or association reaches out to Buddy Check for Jesse and signs up to host an event during their season. The program is delivered free of charge to teams across Canada.
The team receives the program kit: green hockey tape (the colour of mental health), Coaches’ Chat scripts, BUDDY conversation cards, posters, and Buddy Check swag, everything needed to facilitate a meaningful conversation.
Before a practice or game, the coach delivers a 10–15 minute Coaches’ Chat: open dialogue about mental health, kindness, and looking out for one another. Athletes are introduced to the practice of buddy checking — on themselves, their teammates, their family.
Players take the field, court, or ice wearing green tape on their sticks, shoes, or wrists, a visible signal that this team is part of the conversation. Communities, families, and opposing teams join in.
The chat is the start, not the end. Coaches and athletes carry the practice into the rest of their season, checking in, normalizing the language, and modelling care to younger teammates.
The program is run by the Buddy Check for Jesse Society, a registered charity founded by Jesse’s family in 2018. Coaches, leagues, sports bodies, and partner organizations can learn more, sign up, or contribute directly:
Visit buddycheckforjesse.com →
Buddy Check for Jesse is Michael's debut documentary as director. He came to non-fiction through years of crew and commercial work, including 1st AD on Arnold Lim's feature Obscura. A feature adaptation is in development.
Director's Statement
In late 2020, my brother Darcy fell into a sudden coma. In the hospital, I'd read to him everyday, hoping it would help him wake up. He passed not long after at age 36. So it goes.
When I miss him, I read out loud to him, as if he was still with us. It's how I keep him in my thoughts.
Where I had lost my brother, Stu had lost his son. Instead of retreating into silence, Stu chose to open up; and in doing so, created something extraordinary.
Following Stu's journey, I've learned that grief can also be a bridge. This film is my way of uncovering that truth, and honouring Jesse's legacy.
“Stu took the loss of his son, turned his grief into a passion to honour him and to perhaps help change the generation to come.”
Robyn Vandersteen
The Feature
The feature-length Buddy Check for Jesse follows a quiet shift unfolding in locker rooms across Canada: youth taking up the language of care for themselves, for their teammates, their friends, and one another. Across three movements, the film traces how a single conversation, repeated, becomes a culture.
Stu’s loss of Jesse. The first Buddy Check for Jesse talk. Youth perspectives on pressure and belonging. The program grows rapidly, unexpectedly, taking over Hockey Day in Canada.
Communities across Canada: rural BC, the Prairies, Francophone regions, and where invited, Indigenous youth programs. Youth speak candidly about anxiety, identity, and resilience. Coaches and parents show different adaptations of the program.
Returning to Victoria, we connect the national threads. Youth leadership emerges. Teams take ownership of mental health conversations. Jesse’s siblings take over the program from Stu.
Festival Run
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24 festival selections across Canada, the United States, and internationally
“One of the most moving pieces of this entire festival… It hit me hard and I hope it moves forward to change the lives of all who see it.”
Edmonton Short Film Festival Programmer
People
Stu Gershman is a father, physician, coach, and founder of Buddy Check for Jesse. After the loss of his remarkable son, Jesse, to suicide at age 22, Stu made a decision not to hide his grief, but to talk about it. Opening up in this way has sent Stu on a life-changing journey that has kickstarted a national conversation.
Carson Strom is an outspoken public speaker on issues of mental health in sport. After being personally helped by the Buddy Check for Jesse program, Carson became a youth ambassador at age 17, delivering coach's talks and bringing the message to a new generation.
A long-time first responder, Robyn shares openly about her PTSD diagnosis. Inspired by Stu's story, Robyn scaled the Buddy Check for Jesse program across Manitoba, starting with minor hockey before branching into soccer, softball, and volleyball. Robyn and her family lost a friend to suicide at the age of 16, and she hopes the program can help her kids and this next generation speak more openly about mental health.
As a clinical counsellor and Ph.D. in sport psychology, Bruce has worked with some of the most talented athletes in the world, including Team Canada, the Vancouver Canucks, Rugby Canada, and Rowing Canada. Bruce offers his unique insight into mental health, and the value of checking in on our loved ones.
Jesse's memory is the heart of this film, and the reason everything that follows exists.
Gallery
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Across The Country
The film is travelling. The program is taking root. Wherever you are in Canada, whether you want to host a screening for your school, library, sports league, workplace, or community, we want to hear from you.
Festival Screenings, 2025
Schools, libraries, sports leagues, workplaces, faith communities. We'll work with you on logistics, licensing, and where possible a director or subject Q&A.
Inquire about a screening →The Buddy Check for Jesse program runs free of charge for coaches, teams, and athletic associations across Canada. The Society handles everything from kits to coach training.
Visit buddycheckforjesse.com →Map shows confirmed festival selections as of 2025. If you'd like to bring a screening to your community, let us know.
Festival Journal
A field journal from the fall 2025 festival tour. Six stops across four provinces and one territory, plus an omnibus and a coda. Read the full festival journal →
Walking into the screening, I wasn't sure how an audience outside Canada would receive a film about hockey and mental health. What happened surprised me.
Read more →
The film won Best Cinematography at the Broadway Theatre, a community-owned cinema in a province that walks into a film about youth and hockey with something already in its chest.
Read more →
On the choices the film makes, the work the film is not, and what the youth who have grown up inside the program are now doing with the language it gave them.
Read more →In The News
Selected coverage of the film and its festival run. Full press kit, hi-res stills, and director bio available in the EPK.
Get In Touch
Whether you want to bring the film to your community, write about it, license it, or build something with us, the form below is the place to start. Use the categories so we can route your message to the right person quickly.
Schools, libraries, leagues, workplaces, faith and community groups. Anywhere people gather.
Commissioners, distributors, broadcasters, financiers, programmers. Feature in development; short available for licensing.
Journalists requesting interviews, hi-res stills, screeners, or background. Press kit available on request.
Tell us a little about who you are and what you're hoping for. We read everything that comes in.