A local author is sharing his experience with alcoholism in the hope of helping other men improve their mental well-being.

Dennis Kreba, behind the new book Dennis On The Run: A Men’s Survival Guide to Lasting Change, says he started drinking more when he started working from home at the height of restrictions related to COVID-19.

One evening, during an argument, a friend told him that he had become too negative and that he needed distance.

“It wasn’t my high moment. It was my lowest moment. And the next morning, I had a pit in my stomach that said, ‘We’re not okay. It’s different. Something’s happening,'” he told CTV News Edmonton on Sunday at his book launch party.

Realizing that alcohol had “taken over” his life, Kreba decided to take a break from drinking – something that didn’t end nearly four years later.

Along with sobriety, he found other healthy coping mechanisms: running, meditation, and journaling.

He describes his book as a “road map” for other men who are also struggling.

“I think men think they are the rock of the family and they have to be the rock and they have to be infallible. A lot of men live with the status quo because they are afraid of change.” , he said.

“This is why so many men are hurt and why they commit suicide at an uncomfortable rate and why Movember exists as a cause.”

Kreba partnered his book with a journal and online community, called the Beyond Survival Initiative, with the goal of having “honest conversations” between men.

“Generally speaking, men need to start talking about things more, they need to start book clubs, they need to invest in each other, they need to belong to online communities and stop talking in frivolous,” Kreba said.

According to the Movember organization, one person commits suicide every minute in the world.

In Canada, three-quarters of suicides are committed by men.

With files from Brandon Lynch of CTV News Edmonton