Hockey commentator Kelly Hrudey and his daughter, Kaitlin, dance at her Grade 12 graduation in 2011. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO

From NHL goalie to broadcaster, Kelly Hrudey has been a longtime fixture in the hockey world, but it's an experience far removed from the ice that he describes as his hardest and most rewarding work: supporting his youngest child in her battle with mental illness.

The "Hockey Night in Canada" commentator and his daughter, Kaitlin, are speaking out publicly about her anxiety disorder as part of "Know Your Signs." Launched by the RBC Children's Mental Health Project, the national campaign highlights early warning signs to identify possible indicators of childhood mental illness.

The pair hope that by sharing their story they can help children with mental illness know they aren't alone in their struggle, and can also raise awareness for families of the warning signs — early indicators the father of three admitted he missed.

Kaitlin said there wasn't any one specific trigger for her anxiety disorder, but rather a buildup over time to the point where "it became unmanageable."

For a long time, she has had what she described as obsessive thoughts, mostly concerning disease.

"It's just something that would get stuck in my head and I couldn't get it out," the 20-year-old Kaitlin said from Calgary in a phone interview with Kelly, who was in St. Louis for the NHL playoffs.

"When I was younger, Grade 7 for me was when I was 12 and that was the worst year for me. ... And just before that, the summer before, I just had a lot of obsessive thoughts I couldn't get out of my head.

"There were lots of ways for me to try and cope with it, but it wasn't the right way to cope. I would have these things I would do with my eyes. I would blink them all the time. And to me, that would make sure that I wouldn't become blind because that was something I was scared of."

At the time, Kelly recalled thinking that Kaitlin's talk of going blind and the habit of randomly blinking her eyes was "really peculiar," but dismissed it as a tic.

Kelly and his wife, Donna, started to notice signs that something was wrong when Kaitlin was 10 and 11 but admitted they were "pretty slow in picking up all of the clues."

"There were a lot of things we noticed and questioned, but when she would give us an answer, she was very good at manipulating us or (being) deceitful because she was a caged animal. She wasn't herself. And she was scared."

Crippled by fears of contracting a disease, Kaitlin became increasingly attached to her parents and withdrawn from her regular routines.

Prior to her entering Grade 7, both father and daughter recalled Kelly and Donna having to cut short a driving tour to pick her up because Kaitlin "just wasn't herself."

"She was getting sick a lot. She had migraines, tons of migraines. I think sometimes four a week," recalled Kelly. "And we knew something wasn't right that summer, but we were hoping in the fall, when she goes back to school in September, things would sort of right (themselves)." They didn't.

"At the beginning of Grade 7, I didn't go to school at all. I couldn't get out of the car. I was always really into dance and I couldn't go to dance class anymore. I never hung out with my friends," recalled Kaitlin.

Kelly said Donna reminded him of one occasion where Kaitlin attended a dance camp and asked her mother to sit in the parking lot all day in the car.

"When she couldn't get out of the car at school or dance, to see the sheer look of fear and desperation on her face, this was not something that you say: 'Hey, get over it and we'll be good.' We knew we had a problem."

Kaitlin started to see Calgary child psychologist Kelly Moroz, who offered encouragement to the Hrudeys that the family could get through the challenge and that Kaitlin's condition would become manageable. Not knowing much about mental illness or the process of treatment, Kelly had initially thought they would be "through it in about a month" and that "life would be back to normal."

Carol Friedland, the wife of Kelly's lawyer and former NHL agent Lloyd Friedland, had a PhD in clinical psychology. It was through speaking to her in the early days that Kelly had his first idea that they were "in this for the long haul."

"This was not something that was going to be gone in the short term. It was something we'd have to battle for a long, long time. And Kait knows she'll probably battle it her whole life," said Kelly. "And that's when we really dug in. And Kait, she wanted to get better."

Moroz determined she had anxiety disorder along with obsessive-compulsive disorder. After about four years working with the specialist, Kaitlin said she reached a point where she started to have more good days than bad.

Obsessive thoughts would still creep in, but Moroz gave her the tools to cope. Kaitlin said he taught her how to rationalize her thoughts, distract herself to get thoughts out of her mind and, throughout the whole process, to focus on breathing and relaxation.

"I still would have the thought about not wanting to go to the sleepover, but he would teach me tools to get through the thought and get through the sleepover," said Kaitlin.

"He helped me a lot and he still helps me a lot with my thoughts and trying to get through them — but he can't take the thoughts away," she added.

"It's something that I just have and it's something that he's taught me tools so that I can live a good life with these thoughts and get through them. But I wouldn't say they've disappeared over the years. I just know how to cope with them now."

In the early stages, Kelly said Kaitlin needed considerable support, particularly with the breathing sessions, which both he and his wife did with her.

"It was very intensive," said Kelly. "I learned how to do all of the breathing with Kaitlin. I know Donna did as well. I just had a really magical connection in terms of breathing, and so we would, in all likelihood, do it every day, multiple times every day, for the longest time.

"It would just manifest itself whenever, these thoughts. So we just had to be on alert and ready to do it."

Kelly said while he and his wife were attentive parents, they "weren't on the lookout" for signs of a mental illness in their child. He hopes that through the campaign he can help other parents to be mindful of the signs that they initially missed.

"There are other things that you look for and things that you hope you're doing a good job in terms of parenting. But this totally blindsided us," he said.

"And I can imagine there are a lot of other families out there that they're not even aware of what their families might be going through because it's hard for the child to share that."

Kaitlin agreed.

"For me at the time, I didn't really know what was going on with me. I couldn't really describe it or explain it," she said.

"It helps so much once my parents realized something was wrong so they could help me get better. I think the more that parents are aware of what the signs are, the better for everyone."

News from © The Canadian Press, 2013