Landsberg promises hope, not a cure

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This article was published 04/10/2019 (2440 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A single paragraph contained in some research material for an interview with a retired hockey star has transformed Michael Landsberg into one of Canada’s foremost mental-health advocates.

Landsberg, who has been with TSN in a number of roles since the network debuted in 1984, had quietly battled depression and anxiety for years before finally reaching out for help in November 2008. 

On Oct. 20, 2009, former National Hockey League star Stephane Richer was booked for Landsberg’s show “Off The Record.” The TV host noticed a single paragraph in a story in which the two-time 50-goal scorer and two-time Stanley Cup winner briefly discussed his mental illness.

For the first time, Richer talked on-air about the depression that had robbed him of any joy during his tremendous NHL career, and Landsberg publicly revealed his struggles as well.

The reaction was instant and very positive: It proved to be a turning point for both men.

“It changed his life, just like it changed my life,” Landsberg said. “He now travels around giving speeches and people confide in him. He said he’ll walk through the airport and people will say ‘Stephane, I know that you suffer from depression. Thank you for (speaking up).’ It’s pretty amazing how our paths crossed by chance on this one day and everything was aligned.”

The TSN host shared his message in Brandon on Thursday at the Career Connections banquet at the Victoria Inn. He said the simple act of discussing his story can be helpful.

“One of the things I would strive for, if you asked me in advance, would be for people to understand more about themselves when they hear what lives in somebody else’s brain,” Landsberg said. “I’ve heard all kinds of times where someone will tell me afterwards that ‘I was listening to you describe this illness and realized that’s me and I never put it together before because mental illness doesn’t typically hit you hard and all of a sudden. It’s not like being hit by a car. It’s a tiny miniscule change in us that we don’t know sometimes what’s actually going on.”

He has also helped people who live with someone who suffers from depression to better understand their daily struggles. It’s not knowledge that is easily shared.

“Typically, people with mental-health challenges like depression don’t let you into their world,” Landsberg said. “My goal is to let people into my world, which is identical to the world of their husband or wife or brother or sister.”

With the familiarity he’s developed with sports fans during his long television career, Landsberg also has access to a demographic group that perhaps needs to hear his message and resists it the most, men of all ages. When he takes speaking engagements, Landsberg will address whoever is in front of him, but he understands the need for other men to hear his message.

“I know that men more than women, and men of a certain age and mentality, need to hear this from someone who they can relate to,” Landsberg said. 

Landsberg’s theory on why males are less likely to seek helps hinges on the fundamental fact they don’t want to display any kind of weakness. Landsberg said his message is to persuade those men that mental illness isn’t weakness, but rather a medical condition that requires help. 

He coined the #SickNotWeak hashtag on Twitter to deliver that message.

“No one is ever going to say something that they think makes them look weak,” Landsberg said. “The challenge is to get them to understand that it’s a not a weakness. I can best do that by talking about it with strength.”

He does that by explaining with conviction that he’s been devastated by an illness that isn’t his fault or self-inflicted.

Landsberg said he’s been fortunate that his public career has given him a platform that’s not available to most people, who he adds could tell their story just as well as he does.

“You have to be willing to share and expose more of yourself than maybe you’re comfortable with,” Landsberg said. “To get up there and say ‘I’m a guy and I suffer from depression’ is useful, but not nearly as useful as ‘And this is what it does to me.’ I know there is huge value in it. I also know that it’s easy for me, and not only easy for me, it’s a total blessing. It’s a total high for me to be able to get up on stage and use something in my life, especially the worst thing in my life, to be of use to somebody else.”

Landsberg currently hosts TSN’s “First Up” with former Toronto Maple Leaf Carlo Colaiacovo. “Off The Record” went off the air in 2015.

Each month, Landsberg tracks how many bad days he has by drawing a line on his arm. During his speech in Brandon on Thursday, he rolled up his sleeve to show 27-3 written in marker. That was his tally of good to bad days in September.

“I had 27 good days last month and three bad days, and that tells a hugely important story,” Landsberg said. “The three tells that I’m not selling false hope. I’m not cured. I’m not selling the cure here. Some people do get cured, but not me, and I think that makes my case more believable to people. And the 27 days is hope for people who would have had 30 bad days. I’ve had 27 good days out of 30 and that’s a huge win. Maybe that can be you, but the only way that can be you is if you fight for it.”

 

» If you need somebody to talk to, call the Manitoba Suicide Line “Reason to Live” at 

1-877-435-7170 (1-877-HELP170). Resources are also available at Lansberg’s 

sicknotweak.com website.

 

» pbergson@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @PerryBergson