Putting yourself out there, growing a business, and trying new things ensures that you will have more than a few dark nights of the soul as an entrepreneur.

While a few entrepreneurs are comfortable sharing the joys and pains of small business ownership, many opt to only show and share the wins, not the losses – and definitely not the face-plant failures.

Every time we lose an entrepreneur (yes, there have been many suicides), there is a surge of honesty and openness about depression in the entrepreneur community.

As a group, we are more likely to experience depression than the general population. By the way, there has been a substantial increase in depression in the population at large since 1999.

In short, many of us struggle.

You may have read my post about losing my mind when Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade killed themselves. I was determined that this time we would keep the conversation going.

This time, we would give entrepreneurs the platform and safe space to talk about the challenges in their businesses and with depression without judgement.

I am a huge fan of Rob Bell, and his words kept swirling in my head. He says that if you find yourself walking around shaking your fist saying someone needs to do something about this, maybe that someone is you.

As one person, what could I do?

As it turns out, I could do a lot. I could buy a domain and put a stake in the ground for The Depression Discussions™: The Conversations Entrepreneurs Need to Have.

That gave me a landing page, but didn’t enable me to do the outreach I wanted and actually have conversations with people. So, I started this Facebook page for The Depression Discussions.

We’re two months in and the responses and engagement have been overwhelming. I have done six video interviews, with one interview receiving over 3K views and an outpouring of gratitude.

Below is my first interview with Rich Gallagher. (He was a long-time contributor to this blog so his name might be familiar to you.) Rich is not only a truly outstanding writer, but he is also a successful speaker, trainer, and licensed psychotherapist. These qualifications made him the perfect inaugural interview for the series.

Rich shared some incredibly useful tips and techniques in this interview. I hope you find it as valuable as I did.

Please join the discussion on Facebook, and you can watch the other interviews on Facebook or www.DepressionDiscussions.com.