A Windsor musician is bringing his battle with mental illness public and wants others to do the same.

Jamie Greer was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 1991.

He suffers from substance abuse and mood swings and recently left his job.

"You convince yourself when you're at these lows and at these highs, that the alcohol is going to be something that is going to help you through it. And of course it never is," he said. "It leads to more problems you have to deal with. I'm just taking it day by day and working on it."

Greer posted his photo to Facebook with the message, "this is the face of someone who battles mental illness everyday."

He invited others suffering with mental illness to come public using the hashtag #‎iamafaceofmentalillness‬.

"I chose 'I am a face' rather than 'I am the face' because I really think that there are so many people that are faces of different types of mental illnesses," Greer said.

"This is something that those of us who suffer from it need to [do]; put our face forward," he said.

He said those who have mental illness need to rely on each other, "more than relying on people who don't suffer from it to try to fix it for us."

There's more support than you think. - Windsor musician Jamie Greer

Greer said he's been flooded with private messages thanking him for bringing light to this issue. Many messages are from people too afraid to come public.

But he said since he made his fight public, he's been floored by all the support he's received.

"There's more support than you think," he said.

Still, many have come forward, sharing their battles, including friends of his that he's known for years that he didn't know were suffering from mental illness.

"There is no financial payoff," he said of his actions. "No one's looking for money to help an organization, no ones looking for a corporate sponsor to tag their name onto it. It's simply people wanting other people to see, 'I'm a face in your community, I suffer from a mental illness.'"