![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1769882469_834_default.jpg\")
Teresa Dukes, CEO of the Canadian Mental Health Association in Manitoba, says grassroots initiatives such as the Southeast Men\u2019s Group are exciting to see, especially in rural communities where resources are lacking. (Zoom)<\/p>\nA mental-health support group for men in southeastern Manitoba is expanding to Steinbach after a successful first 18 months. <\/p>\n
Jeremy Wiens, who organized the Southeast Men\u2019s Group, says the peer-support group has grown more than expected since its first meeting in Ste. Anne in October 2024. <\/p>\n
Wiens, who is also a town of Ste. Anne councillor, says he and co-founder Ryan Pasieczka would have deemed the first SMG meeting a success if five men had showed up.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had 26 guys out that night,\u201d Wiens said. \u201cThe conversation started immediately around suicide, around loneliness, isolation, depression, addiction. We were like, \u2018OK, we hit a chord here.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Wiens says he faced his own mental health struggles while experiencing divorce, and found getting support a challenge.<\/p>\n
He saw resources for women, children and men experiencing addictions in rural communities.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut men who are just struggling with day-to-day life, there\u2019s just a gap there and nothing was around,\u201d Wiens said. \u201cI got myself to a better place and where I\u2019m actually able to be part of the community and actually give back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wiens thought peer-to-peer support would be a good way to connect with others who are struggling.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not professionals,” Wiens said. “We\u2019re just guys who show up for each other.\u201d <\/p>\n
Wiens says men are often hesitant to meet one-on-one for coffee and a conversation before they decide to join the group, something he attributes to the stigma he faced when he talked about seeing a psychologist to deal with his problems.<\/p>\n
Mental health resources<\/p>\n
Teresa Dukes, CEO of the Canadian Mental Health Association in Manitoba, says grassroots initiatives such as this are exciting to see, especially in rural communities.<\/p>\n
She says men often deal with high levels of stress and depression, but lack sufficient social support.<\/p>\n
Increased feelings of isolation and lack of access to resources are just a few barriers men might encounter, Dukes says, adding economic stress in agricultural communities can also affect mental health.<\/p>\n
\u201cMen don\u2019t typically reach out until they\u2019re in crisis \u2014 that\u2019s kind of the worst time to reach,\u201d Dukes said. \u201cIdeally, you\u2019re meeting much earlier and you\u2019re meeting them in a place, a space, that is comfortable so that they\u2019ll actually engage in conversations.\u201d<\/p>\n
She says peer-support groups are able to tap into what\u2019s needed to reach a particular group of men.<\/p>\n
Teresa Dukes, CEO of the Canadian Mental Health Association in Manitoba, says grassroots initiatives such as the Southeast Men\u2019s Group are exciting to see, especially in rural communities where resources are lacking. (Zoom)<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea that you\u2019ve opened up space to connect with other people is probably one of the most significant factors that will reduce depression and other kinds of mental health challenges that people might be experiencing,\u201d Dukes said.<\/p>\n
In rural communities, she says, men might be reluctant to share their problems out of fear their struggles will be shared with others or spread in the form of rumours.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a cultural component to it where men are often told to just push through, or pull up your bootstraps and make it through,\u201d Dukes adds.<\/p>\n
SMG brings in speakers, including therapists and counsellors, as part of their meetings, Wien says, adding that breaking into smaller groups where participants can talk about their struggles or what they learned from the presenter is also helpful.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you hear guys that are just stepping up improving their lives, that\u2019s just an amazing feeling to know that, ‘Hey, I played a small part of that,’\u201d Wiens said. \u201cSeeing them put in the work, that\u2019s an incredible feeling.”<\/p>\n
On average, between 20 to 30 men show up to each meeting, Wiens says, with some travelling more than an hour to attend.<\/p>\n
Wiens said members expressed interest in the group branching out to more communities, so the group is expanding into Steinbach.<\/p>\n
SMG is funded by the community, Wiens says, including donations and concerts put on to raise funds.<\/p>\n
The first meeting at the Southeast Event Centre will take place March 3 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.<\/p>\n
Subsequent meetings will take place the first Tuesday of each month, with Ste. Anne meetings continuing on the third Tuesday of each month.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s OK to not be OK, but it\u2019s not OK to stay there,\u201d Wiens said. \u201cReach out, you\u2019re not alone.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A mental-health support group for men in southeastern Manitoba is expanding to Steinbach after a successful first 18…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":274107,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[103,61,60,410,411],"class_list":{"0":"post-274106","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-mental-health","12":"tag-mentalhealth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=274106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/274107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}