For the first time, Estevan got to participate in the Victor Walk on Friday, which is a walk started by the 'Breaking Free Foundation' and led by former National League Hockey star Theo Fleury to raise awareness for childhood trauma. 

And the Energy City supported the cause with an outstanding response.

"This is the biggest turn out we have had in the four years of our Victor Walk. I feel very inspired by the turn out and it gives us a lot of hope that the mission of awareness is spreading and that the word is igniting peoples willingness to talk about this topic," expressed Kim Barthel, an Occupational Therapist.

That said, Barthel adds that a lot still needs to be done.

"Making this a normal everyday conversation between people that doesn't feel so filled with shame, the shame keeps people stuck and keeps the cycle of trauma going," added Barthel.

"Working with Theo is very helpful because when somebody like him can stand up and be vulnerable, it says to other people that it's okay, you can do this too. It gives a force to help that process unravel."

For Theo Fleury, who played 16 seasons in the NHL before officially retiring in 2009, the resilience of people stood out most for him. 

"Most people who come to these kind of things are looking for healing. I was a little bit surprised with the number of people but ecstatic at the same time that people are paying attention and we have amazing groups like Envision here in town that are helping lots of people and that's what we want," shared Fleury.

"We want people to be able to deal with this stuff and have a safe place to do it, so I'm ecstatic about today."

Friday marked somewhat of a homecoming for Fleury to southeast Saskatchewan, who still has many family members in the region and who was born in Oxbow.

Estevan was the fourth stop on a five-city tour, which started in Saskatoon on July 18th. The tour moved to Swift Current on Wednesday, Moose Jaw on Thursday, and ends Saturday in Regina.

"It just keeps getting better and Estevan has been a shot in the arm for all of us," added Fleury. "We've been doing this for a lot of years now and people are listening and the momentum's picking up and there's a lot of survivors in the crowd too that have come up and feel very comfortable and that's the sort of gist to this whole thing."

"Trauma is the next big epidemic, trauma is at the beginning stages of becoming something that people are very aware of and that's important."