From Logging Roads to Roads of Recovery with Dale Horth

10/10/22 • 35 min

Did you know men are nearly twice as unlikely to be diagnosed with an anxiety disorder compared to women?

In this episode of #OurAnxietyStories, Dale Horth highlights the barriers preventing men from seeking diagnosis and treatment. Looking back on his experience working in the logging industry, Dale shares how the hyper-masculine culture of certain blue-collar jobs can make it difficult for men to seek help. “Only the weak need help,” or so he was taught. Throughout his journey, Dale experienced substance use challenges, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and panic attacks. During the peak of his challenges, Dale visited the hospital 58 times in a single year. After overcoming his mental health and substance use challenges, as well as unthinkable physical injuries, Dale is now pursuing a career change and being retrained in Occupational Health Safety Administration to better support men’s mental health in the workplace.

Looking for resources to support yourself or a loved one experiencing challenges with substance use? The Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research (CISUR) has created several informative workbooks to help those who use substances. Workbooks include ‘Supporting people who use substances,’ a basic introduction to substance use along with tips to engage in dialogue with a friend or family member around substance use, as well as ‘Substance Use and Young People,’ a guide for friends, family and a youth’s caring community on how to initiate and continue dialogue around substance use.

About the Guest:

Dale Horth worked for many years in the logging industry in British Columbia, Canada. According to Dale, his battle with PTSD, anxiety, and depression has taken him to hell and back. After several suicide attempts and a successful recovery program, Dale is now being retrained in Occupational Health Safety Administration. Authoring “Why Men Suffer in Silence: A Story of Hope and Recovery,” Dale is now an advocate for men’s mental health, challenging blue-collar, testosterone-driven industries, and encouraging men to speak out and get help.

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#OurAnxietyStories is brought to you by Anxiety CanadaTM, a leader in developing free evidence-based resources, including the free anxiety-management app, MindShift CBT. To learn more about Anxiety Canada, visit www.AnxietyCanada.com.

Anxiety Canada is proud to be affiliated with HeretoHelp, a project of the BC Partners for Mental Health and Substance Use Information. The BC Partners are funded by the Provincial Health Services Authority.

Did you know men are nearly twice as unlikely to be diagnosed with an anxiety disorder compared to women?

About the Guest:

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Previous Episode

Group Therapy Really Works with Pegah Mollahajian & Dr. Taube-Schiff

Dealing with anxiety or finding strategies for anxiety is tough at any age, but how can you manage anxiety as an adult when you didn’t have access to the right resources as a child?

In this episode of #OurAnxietyStories, Anxiety Canada Youth Network alum Pegah Mollahajian shares her story, and registered psychologist Dr. Marlene Taube-Schiff offers her clinical expertise and insights into group therapy, exposure therapy, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), and more.

At 25, Pegah reflects on being an anxious child. As a young Iranian Canadian, she felt her family did not know how to track down the right anxiety resources “at the right time.” Dr. Taube-Schiff confirms that anxiety disorders often appear at a young age and go underdiagnosed, adding that early intervention is important but we can still treat adult anxiety. When Pegah looks back, she feels her anxiety prevented her from many new childhood experiences and wonders what could have been if she’d had the right treatment. Dr. Taube-Schiff stresses that when anxiety hits during formative, developmental years, it can seemingly interrupt our lives and personal growth, but we can see getting better as a real opportunity to move forward. Though Pegah had no formal anxiety treatment or strategies as a child, she found ways to cope as an adult. When Pegah’s anxiety re-emerged in university, she began to push herself out of her comfort zone—something Dr. Taube-Schiff notes could be considered “informally” engaging in exposure therapy.

Eventually, Pegah found Anxiety Canada’s MindShift CBT Groups, an 8-session online group therapy program for small groups of adults (aged 19+) with mild to moderate anxiety. Since participating in MindShift CBT Groups, Pegah has learned to analyze, challenge, and balance her anxious thoughts. Dr. Taube-Schiff and host John Bateman also touch on the benefits of group therapy: it not only offers the same content and skills as individualized therapy, but participants can find comfort in connecting with others, realizing their similar worries and symptoms, and knowing they’re not alone.

This episode touches on how important it is to connect families with the resources they need. FamilySmart’s ‘In the Know’ videos and events provide expert speakers on topics important to young people, families, and those working to support the mental health of children and youth. For more information, visit www.familysmart.ca.

About the Guest:

Pegah Mollahajian is young adult who recently completed her master’s degree in public health at the University of Toronto. As an Iranian Canadian child, she experienced anxiety but didn’t have the resources to understand what it was or how to cope with it. After receiving help from Anxiety Canada’s MindShift Program, she applied her new understanding of anxiety and desire to advocate for mental health by joining the Anxiety Canada Youth Network for the 2021-22 season.

Dr. Marlene Taube-Schiff, a registered psychologist for over 15 years, offers her expertise and shares insights with Pegah and John. Dr. Taube-Schiff’s clinical work is focused on the delivery of scientifically supported treatments for obsessive compulsive and related disorders, anxiety disorders, depression-related issues, and a wide range of emotional and behavioural problems.

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Next Episode

Adoption, Anxiety and Finding the Truth with Lise Laforge

Did you know that anxiety and other mental health conditions, like schizophrenia and depression, can drastically impact the trajectory of a person’s life?

In this episode of #OurAnxietystories, Lise Laforge reflects on her childhood and how it’s connected to her anxiety journey. At age 8, Lise was told she was adopted, which eventually led her to search for her birth mother. At 21, Lise received a call from Children’s Aid to say that they’d found her mother, but the news of her identity sparked an anxiety attack: Lise learned that her biological mother was a homeless woman she’d encountered before. She also learned that her mother had schizophrenia that went untreated for decades and had been a victim of domestic violence. Through learning about her mother, Lise gained a new understanding of homeless communities and some of the root causes of homelessness. Additionally, through therapy and speaking openly about the past, she’s learned to accept her situation and that she is “meant to be on this earth.”

Anxiety Canada Scientific Advisory Committee member, Dr. Kyle Burns, says that this episode stresses the importance of relationships and how these can shape our anxiety. “We often describe anxiety in terms of the ‘fight-or-flight’ reflex and it certainly can be an alarm system for physical threats. But interpersonal anxiety can be just as powerful. As humans, one of our most basic needs is to belong and to connect and we often miss or give greater importance to physical needs. This is an important issue in adoption where the emotional sense of belonging and safety are just as important as food and shelter.” Dr. Burns adds that acceptance is powerful: “John and Lise noted that anxiety is not really ‘cured’ and at the same time, they have both figured out a way to live. Acceptance can be hard to define, but I think it might be helpful for listeners to know a couple of things that acceptance is not. Acceptance is not approval, it is not saying that something is good (or bad, for that matter), and it is also not giving up. Acceptance is a sort of acknowledgement, and at the same time moving forward... How a person comes to a place of acceptance is likely going to be unique and individual, yet it’s stories like Lise’s that can give us some [guidance] on how we can get there.”

If you have a loved one or family member who lives with a mental illness, communicating with them may be difficult. This is because mental illnesses can affect a person’s ability to concentrate or think clearly. BC Schizophrenia Society’s ‘Tips for Communicating with a Loved One who has a Mental Illness,’ is a PDF resource for youth that introduces basic tools for effective communication. This can help families and friends, and people living with mental illness, better communicate with one another.

About the Guest:

After learning she was adopted as a child, Lise Laforge spent years looking for her birth mother, only to deal with a long struggle to accept the shocking truth that her mother was an unhoused person she’d been passing on the street for years. Now, Lise is an advocate for the homeless and the mental health challenges they often disproportionately endure.

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