Minnesota legislators gather for dialogue on mental illness

John Moe still remembers vividly his first panic attack. He was a seventh grader at Sacajawea Junior High School in a southern suburb of Seattle when he “got hit with something that felt like a tidal wave hitting my body”. That moment was step one on Moe’s lifelong journey through the world of depression. After that, he couldn’t concentrate and found himself “crying over almost anything”, unable to stop. He believed that no one else in the world felt this way.

In the decades that followed, he discovered that his feelings of isolation and loneliness were more attributable to an illness than to circumstances. He also learned that he was not alone and that there is hope and support. Today, Moe travels the country speaking and “getting the word out about mental health”. He launched a podcast named “Depresh Mode” and wrote a memoir about his experience entitled, “The Hilarious World of Depression”. 

“I am so good at being depressed that I turned professional,” he said.

Moe was one of more than 90 people who gathered at the Broadway Ballroom Event Center in Alexandria recently to discuss issues surrounding mental health services in Minnesota and in the five-county region of Douglas, Grant, Pope, Stevens, and Traverse. Included in the discussion were four Minnesota state legislators. They spent the morning discussing the issues with attendees and listening to the personal stories of individuals whose lives have been affected, in some way, by mental illness.

The “12th Annual Day at Home in Region 4” event was sponsored by the Region 4 South Adult Mental Health Consortium. The annual gathering is designed to bring legislators and constituents together to engage in constructive dialogue on mental health issues, while putting a personal face on mental illness in the region. The event also provides a forum to educate participants on how to effectively interact with their legislators.

A Family Legacy 

Moe said he never talked about his struggles, believing that “the only thing waiting for me would be a straitjacket”. He did what many people do. He married, had a couple of children, bought a home, and established a career. “But in my 30’s I started to crack,” Moe said. 

He developed a short fuse to anger; he would sometimes sit in his car and scream; he eventually cut himself off from friends and family. With the urging of his wife, Moe met with a doctor, was diagnosed with major depressive disorder, and got the treatment he needed. In the years that followed, he realized that depression had not only affected him, but his entire family for generations. Moe said his parents were children, ages six and nine, living in Norway when the Nazis invaded during World War II. His grandfather was a member of the resistance who published anti-Nazi newspapers and sent his son, Moe’s father, out into the world to deliver them. 

“This was trauma,” Moe said. “There were no therapists to help him process his trauma, but there was Vodka…a way of numbing up what’s going on”. His father developed a substance use disorder; his brother developed a substance use disorder. 

“Here’s what the conversation about all these things looked like in my house…We didn’t talk about it”, Moe said. 

It was at the funeral of his brother, who died by suicide, that Moe decided to break the pattern of silence that ran through his family. He talked openly to those at the memorial about his brother’s battle with depression and substance use, as well as his own. This led, eventually, to speaking to more groups, starting the podcast, and authoring his memoir.

Moe reflected on the rising rates of depression since the COVID-19 pandemic, stating that today one in four people, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, are now experiencing major depressive disorder.

“We have a choice. We can talk about it more and help people, or we can keep it in silence and possibly hurt people,” he said.

Legislative Perspective

“One of the things you heard about today is the need for human connection,” said Sue Abderholden who moderated a dialogue with the panel of legislators and event participants. According to Abderholden, who is also the Executive Director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness – Minnesota, “the U.S. Surgeon General came out with a report a couple of months ago saying that we have an epidemic of loneliness. That can lead to people being depressed and sometimes anxious.”

Abderholden and audience participants discussed resources available in the region that have been funded through legislative dollars and managed by the Region 4 South AMHC such as peer support services where people who have walked through their own mental health journey can support others, a warm line where a person needing a little extra support can just call to talk, drop-in socialization centers, and the 24/7 crisis line. 

“As we know, suicide rates among older adults in rural Minnesota is high,” said Abderholden, who affirmed the importance of resources like the crisis line and local support services.  

“A couple things I learned loud and clear this morning were the peer support groups and specialists,” said Representative Paul Anderson, R-Starbuck. I think that’s a great idea that could and should be expanded.” Anderson also affirmed the need in greater Minnesota for expanded facilities that are closer to individuals’ home communities where they can get the support they need. 

“Those are two things I’m going to be taking back to St. Paul and supporting,” he said.

Representative Jeff Backer, R-Browns Valley, said that providing support services closer to home like the socialization / drop-in centers or peer services among others is important to supporting people “on the front end” of their mental health needs. ‘When you are facing the situation where you think you need to grab a substance to help you out, you have someone to call, someone to work with, someone who has gone through that.”

If you, or someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis and you need help, please call the 24/7 crisis hotline at (701) 364-0431. For more information about mental health issues in this region or to see video from the event, visit www.r4sconversations.org