Taihape farmer Dan Mickleson humbled by response to post

Taihape farmer Dan Mickleson says a Facebook post he wrote about dealing with depression and encouraging others to talk about it has reached nearly half a million people.

"It's been absolutely mind-blowing. It's just taken off beyond what I could have imagined," he told the Chronicle.

This week the 35-year-old posted on the NZ Farming Facebook page about two times he'd coped with depression in recent years and about how the issue needed to be discussed openly. He had hoped it might reach a few hundred people but instead it has been shared more than 600 times and seen by nearly 500,000 people.

Mr Mickleson's friends had been encouraging him to go public for a while but it was comedian Jono Pryor talking openly about the death of his friend Tim Hutchens and encouraging Kiwis to ask for help if they were dealing with mental health struggles which gave him the confidence to finally do it.

"It just put it out in front of the public and opened up a can of worms," Mr Mickleson said.
Since the post he had been contacted by several people who said his post had helped them.

It had taught him depression was more widespread among the farming community than he had imagined and it needed to be talked about more.

He said not everyone struggling with mental health would be able to or want to go public in the way he did but they needed to be able to at least talk to someone.

In his Facebook post he talked about watching 11 months' farm work crumble in the face of four weeks of persistent rain in 2010.

"There was no respite. Every day was a slog, putting on already saturated wet weather gear, and walking to and from work helplessly watching as the previous 11 months' work sat down and died around me," he wrote.

"One day toward the end of it, trudging home through the mud, I ground to a halt. I sat down in the mud. And I started to cry. It was too much. I couldn't go on."

He also wrote: "So here I am. The real me. Weak and vulnerable. Exposed. Figuratively naked before the world. Doing what I should have done last time, and reaching out. Because it's ok to ask for help. Friends want to help."

Where to get help:
• Lifeline: 0800 543 354 (available 24/7)
• Suicide Crisis Helpline: 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO) (available 24/7)
• Youthline: 0800 376 633
• Kidsline: 0800 543 754 (available 24/7)
• Whatsup: 0800 942 8787 (Mon-Fri 1pm to 10pm. Sat-Sun 3pm-10pm)
• Depression helpline: 0800 111 757 (available 24/7)
• Rainbow Youth: (09) 376 4155
• Samaritans 0800 726 666
• If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111.