Allan Kehler, motivational speaker and writer, released his fourth book, MENtal Health: It's Time to Talk. Kehler’s recent book contained the stories of 16 men on the Canadian Prairies and how they’ve become enabled to manage their inner struggles through straightforward dialogues with others who are also experiencing stress, anxiety and other negative factors in life.
Men in middle age generally prefer to suffer in silence, the author realized, but honest discussions on mental health are therapeutic and healthy. Aside from directing people onto improved and productive pathways, conversations over mental health might even save lives, as the highest suicide rates in Canada are represented by men between the ages of 40-60. According to Statistics Canada, males died by suicide at a rate of three times compared to women from 1950-2009. Therefore, suffering in silence is essentially an exhibition of risky behaviour for males in this country.
MENtal Health: It’s Time to Talk unveiled the stories of men who’ve undergone personal catastrophes, including Chris Beaudry, former assistant coach of the Humboldt Broncos. All of the subjects in the book have endured an assortment of challenges with direct relations to their mental health. The men in Kehler’s book also deliberate over a range of interesting topics, including masculinity, mental illness, addiction, sexual abuse and suicide through the use of direct and truthful language.
Kehler’s book has received a significant attention in the province, as MENtal Health rose to the number one bestseller list at McNally Robinson in Saskatoon.
Kehler – an energetic, yet introspective conversationalist – examined why men are often reluctant to talk about their innermost toils in comparison to women. “Woman give themselves permission to look at their feelings,” Kehler revealed. “We need to put a voice to the pain. We need to let ourselves be vulnerable. And we don’t have to fight these battles alone,” he added.
The author himself had wrestled with mental health challenges since childhood. “As a kid, I didn’t have a lot of power and control.” The author was diagnosed as bi-polar with depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). “Medication didn’t work. I went to 20 mental health professionals.”
But when Kehler began to open up with others outside of the professional sphere, he realized he wasn’t alone. He also began to understand that his mental challenges didn’t define who he was as a person. “It’s not who I am. It’s what I have,” he reported, adding “We want to be understood. None of us want to be fixed.”
Currently, Kehler has penned a string of successful self-help titles, including Born Resilient, Stepping Out from the Shadows and Goodbye Stress, Hello Life. But aside from writing self-help books, Kehler is also interested with direct, interpersonal engagements. Previously, Kehler had been employed as an addictions counsellor, a clinical case manager and an instructor for mental health at various colleges. Kehler has also served others as a motivational speaker, having spoken on more than 500 stages.
