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I’d moved to Australia just before Christmas in 2001. Beyond the people I’d started working with, I knew nobody as I settled into life in Sydney. Australians are a pretty friendly bunch, but Christmas was a difficult time period for me to arrive – people naturally tend to withdraw to their close family and friend groups during this time. This left me as an outsider, which was very difficult to deal with.

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Cameron: fame, change and isolation

How Mad Are You proved otherwise. Cameron was one of five people with a history of mental illness who was mixed in with five others for a panel of experts to observe.

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Tim: owning my identities

really listening to a single Spice Girls song but a colleague mentioned how great they are and now I’m hooked.Of course, identity is more important than ensuring our music taste is on point! It defines so much of who we are and, more importantly, who we think we can be. Our identity guides the choices we make, the people we spend time with, and the future we see for ourselves.Throughout my life, I’ve given myself many identities.

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Finn: being my genuine self

The tipping point for it to all change was shortly after I came out as bisexual. My parents’ reaction was less than positive. My movements were restricted, my friendships heavily monitored.

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Before I got treatment, my husband did everything for me. He’d help me shower, help me dress because I thought that even if I’d put my clothes on the wrong way somebody would die.I didn’t manage my symptoms well. I let them run free unless someone was watching.

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you want to be.Outside of family and friends, my support networks have been mainly professional support. I worked very closely with my GP to set up what I have now.

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Declan is a participant in Young Faces of Mental Illness, a collaboration with SANE and batyr supporting young adults to share their stories. The project is supported by The Future Generation Global Investment Company.

Tilly: my mental health toolbox

My mental illness at times caused much distress. Since my first episode of illness, a gradual process of receiving professional help, reaching out for support around me, improving my own understanding and self-awareness, and developing a tool kit of self care and coping strategies has allowed me to evolve from struggle to recovery and ongoing managementI am able to live, enjoy and adventure in spite of having a complex mental illness.My handle on my condition is strong. I experience warning signs of mania, including restlessness, erratic or racing thoughts, difficulty sleeping and urges to complete unnecessary tasks.

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Becoming clean and sober has had a lot to do with my mental health recovery too. After I was diagnosed, I was drinking all the time, and took drugs. My behaviour was not healthy.

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Kaitlin: finding my voice

I was four years old when I began to show signs of certain disturbances through acting out and self-harm when I was alone. I was under siege by something invisible that I couldn’t explain. I managed to ‘settle’ these behaviours and emotions by hiding in my cupboard or under my bed where no one could see or reach me.Now I wish more than anything that I could go back and hold that girl tight, tell her not to be afraid and to speak up.I was surrounded by a loving family who gave as much as they could, but mental health was never a subject for dinnertime conversations.

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A few years ago I attended an OCD support group where people would discuss their symptoms and talk about how they were going. One regular often had trouble explaining himself to the group. He would say ‘you’ll have to excuse me I’m competing with my OCD whilst trying to talk to you’.This perfectly sums up the condition.

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Kat: defeating the ‘tortured artist’ stereotype

'Be kind to your mind' is an initiative of SANE supported by Future Generation Global, in partnership with batyr.

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Joshua: challenging stereotypes of masculinity

As a SANE Peer Ambassador, I’m so proud to be part of a national network of nearly 100 people who all share a common goal of reducing stigma and discrimination for those living with complex mental health issues.I joined the Peer Ambassador program because I wanted to use my lived experience of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) to help others living with complex mental health issues, and the people who support them. Through sharing my journey, I want to break down the stigma and talk about the impact that mental ill health can have on the lives of Australians. OCD is not a personality trait or simply another way of saying that you’re extremely tidy or clean, but a serious mental illness that up until recently silenced me in everyday life.The training to become a Peer Ambassador was really special.

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Joshua: challenging stereotypes of masculinity

Australia people liking parting

Cameron: fame, change and isolation

How Mad Are You proved otherwise. Cameron was one of five people with a history of mental illness who was mixed in with five others for a panel of experts to observe.

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Joshua: challenging stereotypes of masculinity

Australia people liking parting

Joshua: challenging stereotypes of masculinity

Australia people liking parting life

James has a mission. At the age of 36, he found something that gave real purpose to his life – to educate young people about the dangers of drugs which can trigger mental illness.

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Jock is a fit, healthy man. A man who runs marathons. A public speaker. A man filled with the joy of life, and yet only a few years ago he was barely functioning as a human being.

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I love my life and have been quite privileged. I have also struggled with different mental illnesses for almost a decade. I was diagnosed with bulimia at 18 and had my first suicide attempt just before my 23rd birthday. It was just after this that I received my diagnosis of borderline personality disorder (BPD) and was able to seek treatment and support.

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I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder 19 years ago when I was at TAFE. It came as a bit of a shock as I could not fathom how this could happen to me. I didn’t know much about mental illness or bipolar, but by getting help very early on I was able to get back on track and return to my schooling. I’ve been lucky to have the support of my family and friends and excellent doctors to help me in my recovery journey.

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A lot of people think carers are saints, they don’t think of them as human beings. But they are real people who absolutely do suffer from isolation, stress and burnout. Carers never stop looking after their loved one. They let themselves go, they don’t do anything for themselves because they don’t have time. When they go to bed at night they lie awake worrying. As a carer, it is very important to try to look after yourself and stay connected. I know this from personal experience.

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From the outside, my life looks pretty idyllic. I live in a beautiful part of country Victoria with my three wonderful children. But, as with many people, I’ve faced my share of demons. Mental illness has played a huge role in my family since my father was first diagnosed with depression over 15 years ago.

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Terese is a mother of three young boys who lives in northern Sydney. Busy teaching, writing and looking after her family, Terese’s life today is a long way from when she experienced her first episode of Bipolar disorder in her late teens. It has taken over twenty years to pull her life together, she says.

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There is a great deal of love in Kylie's family. It is plain to see as she chats with daughters Emma-Leigh and Madeline, the three of them laughing warmly together.

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Evan 'has always wanted help other people', says his wife, Tammy. ‘And this is what he's doing now – he touches many lives.’

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As a doctor living with bipolar disorder, I’m often dismayed at how people with mental illnesses are treated, even within the medical establishment. The problem with mental illness is that the symptoms are not always visible like a broken arm or another physical ailment. You can’t see someone’s internal struggles.

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1983 sticks out to me. I did a really bad pre-season. I was down, I couldn’t train properly. I felt like I had a really bad flu. That was the start of my mental health problems, but it was decades until I was diagnosed with depression and bipolar disorder.

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When publisher Ian Syson read the manuscript of Sandy Jeffs' autobiography, Flying with Paper Wings, he was blown away by it. ‘It’s a story of survival,’ he says. ‘When I read it, I thought, how does she live with this?'

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Tania and her dog Kelsey make a striking pair as they walk every day near their home on the Victorian Surf Coast. Kelsey is a handsome Rottweiler and Tania a tall, fit woman in her 40s. Some days they head for the beach, other days along the banks of the Barwon River.

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There’s no information about mental illness in Papua New Guinea. I’ve never heard of a counsellor or psychologist there. If you ask people what it is they describe what they see in the movies — extreme conditions, seriously dramatised. Growing up, I think depression was just seen as a feeling.

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Tilly: my mental health toolbox

I am not bipolar. I have bipolar disorder. My diagnosis and my identity are linked only in so far as experiencing mental illness has contributed to my personal growth.

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Kaitlin: finding my voice

The most effective tool I have is my voice. Speaking out when things are troubling should never be ignored or disrespected. All of our experiences are valid and hold powerful emotions that need to be held gently. Using your voice could potentially help someone else in need. It could also save your life.

life mindfulness emotions behaviour

When I first started talking to people about having borderline personality disorder, it was hard to open up. I was trying to ‘be a man’ about it, and not show my emotions. It was usually at a party when I’d had a few drinks that I’d start to tell people. I started to drink a lot.

people liking life feelings

Living with OCD is a living hell. As a child, I felt I had to keep my family safe, but I didn't know why. If I made a mistake at school I had to rip the pages out and start again, or I felt something terrible would happen to someone I loved. Even though I knew deep down what I was doing didn’t make sense, I couldn't take the chance that somebody might die.

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Tim: owning my identities

Throughout our lives, we will identify with many different groups. We apply many labels to ourselves to help understand who we are and what we do.

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I’ve always had a strong sense of identity and am quite strong willed. I wasn’t diagnosed until I was 27, because I was so resistant to seeking help. I eventually found a psychologist because things were falling apart, and she just happened to be a self-harm specialist.

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Kat: defeating the ‘tortured artist’ stereotype

Suffering is not a sign of creativity, it’s a sign of illness, and no one should have to be ill to be counted an artist.

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Cameron: fame, change and isolation

If there’s a central theme to the last five years for Cameron, it’s change.

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When I was diagnosed with Schizophrenia at 18, I thought that I’d be sitting in a room for the rest of my life. I thought that I wasn’t going to be able to do anything I wanted to do. I felt so hopeless and like everyone around me was giving up on me too, like nobody expected me to get better.

people liking life schizophrenia

Finn: being my genuine self

Although being transgender isn’t a mental illness, many within our community do experience it. I am a trans man, meaning I was assigned female at birth but my gender is male. I’ve lived with several mental illnesses for over a decade, the worst of which is known as complex post-traumatic stress disorder, or C-PTSD.

people liking personality parents

Bipolar can make you act like a huge arsehole. It can be really hard for people around you to keep up. I know that I am exhausting to be around. I’ve lost many friendships because I am just too high maintenance; too much hard work; just generally too much. I don’t begrudge people for this. I understand. But it doesn’t make it hurt any less.

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Growing up, I played a lot of sport and had a very big and loving family. But I began feeling overwhelmed by the world and where I’d fit in.

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