Every time Gerry Friesen was depressed and couldn’t face his family, he’d go out to the barn and work with the pigs.
“I thought hard work would get me through it and hide it from my family,” said Friesen, who suffered depression for years.
But working in the barn made him feel worse about his failing hog operation, and it didn’t disguise his problems from his family.
“When I finally fessed up, they already knew all about it,” said Friesen, who is co-ordinating farmer depression workshops in Manitoba beginning Feb. 16 in Brandon.
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“You aren’t fooling your family.”
Severe financial stress in the hog and cattle industries is pushing more farmers into depression. It has also made the problem worse for farmers already struggling with depression.
Friesen said the workshops are designed to help men cope with a subject many would rather avoid.
“Men aren’t dealing with depression the way they should be,” said Friesen, who has been touring farm shows this winter to talk about the subject.
The workshops are beginning in Brandon because the local United Way and the Manitoba Farm and Rural Stress Line asked Friesen to stage them. After the Brandon workshops on Feb. 16 and Feb. 18, more are expected be offered in eastern Manitoba, the area most ravaged by the catastrophe in the weanling hog industry.
Many farmers may wish to attend sessions outside their hometowns, Friesen noted, because they don’t want friends and neighbours to see them.
Friesen said that’s OK, but farmers should also feel comfortable going to meetings near their homes, even if they have to contort the truth to explain why they’re going.
“You can tell people ‘I’m not going because of me. I’m going because of the neighbour.’ Whatever you need to say,” said Friesen.
“But just come.”
