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When Steven Bailey was campaigning as the lead candidate for the Sex Party in the 2016 ACT elections, one thing stood out. It was the number of disaffected and depressed young men he kept encountering as he door-knocked and spoke in public. “I don't know why that is, but I will say that for some reason, Canberra can be an easy place in which to become lost,” he told Fairfax Media. In retrospect, it’s not surprising these young men struck a chord with Mr Bailey; directly after the election, he was diagnosed with depression. “During the election, I had a mental breakdown, and I didn't address the problem in a healthy way, I ignored it, and I concealed it, and I paid for that later on,” he said. Two weeks after the election - which his party lost - Mr Bailey got married. But a combination of mental illness, chronic back pain, and the suicide of a family member was too much strain on the relationship, and the marriage ended the following year. “I lost my home, and when I became aware that the political party that I'd worked so hard for for three years was being taken away from me, it did break my heart, and I lost my purpose, I suppose,” he said. The Australian Sex Party was officially deregistered last week, having relaunched as the Reason Party last year. Meanwhile, Mr Bailey is speaking out about his experiences in the hope that he might be able to reach out to some of the disaffected young people he met on the campaign trail. “There's a great catharsis in helping people and being able to put myself in a situation where I can help people,” he said. “But really, when it comes to the great conversation of mental health, we all need to help one another, and it takes more than one person. I felt the weight of other people's pain during the election, and that did affect me.” He found himself unable to hold down a job after the election, as he couldn't tell people what he was going through. “My mental health was so poor that I ruined those opportunities,” he said. “My overall message regarding employment is that sometimes people really do need a second chance when it comes to very poor mental health.” He said the Canberra health system needed to focus more on those with chronic, rather than acute mental health conditions. “Canberra's great at the acute problems, when it comes to mental health, but when it comes to the long term, we have to rely on a supportive community just as much as we rely on a supportive medical community as well - there's only so much that doctors can do,” he said. “I am very lucky to have lots of close, wonderful, supportive friends, and I am also blessed in the sense that I do have somewhat of a public platform. There are many people in Canberra who don't have that, so I feel that I have a responsibility to help as many people as I can.” While he hopes to return to politics again, for the moment he is teaching music and “writing the odd press release”, and has also become involved with Menslink, a support network for young men. A trained composer and playwright, the 34-year-old studied music at Narrabundah College and the Australian National University School of Music, and has written four musicals since his school days. He’s now embarking on a fifth, which he describes as “an ode to mental health in Australia”. “Now that I'm feeling better, I notice the beauty in the world again, and the musical will be dedicated to the mental health professionals who work in Canberra, because I believe that they're second to none,” he says. “Once you see the light at the end of the tunnel, or even walk outside of the tunnel, you notice the trees, you learn to love music again.”

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