By RUSSELL BENNETT
Triumph of life seen under the skin…
“THERE is always hope.”
The tattoo on Stewart Baird’s left forearm was as clear as day; a simple message for everyone to remember.
But for the coach of the Casey Cavaliers men’s Big V basketball team, who was recently signed to a new five-year deal, that message carries a deeper meaning.
Last Friday, on World Mental Health Day, he sat down with the News to talk about his chronic clinical depression.
It’s something Stewart has been battling for decades – possibly since early childhood when his parents divorced when he was two and his stepfather died when he was nine.
He hasn’t tried to hide it, either, with close friends and family providing a constant source of strength.
But last year, in a Facebook post, he opened up publicly about his journey. The reaction and the support he received blew him away.
Along the journey Stewart has dealt with more than his fair share of personal loss, losing one of his four older sisters who died suddenly in her mid-fifties, and it’s all contributed to his battle.
But his wife Vicki and kids Kobe and Jordan have been a beacon of strength to help him through the dark times.
“There’s the stage where you probably start to think there is a problem but whether it’s a male thing or not you tend to ignore it and push it away,” Stewart said.
“Then you get to the point where you cross a line of some sort and you realise you have to seek some help – something’s definitely not right.
“It’s about having people around you who understand that.
“As I get better and more able to manage it I almost feel like I owe it to people to talk about it because so many people suffer from it or versions of it and feel like they can’t talk about it.”
He estimates that it was 15 years ago when everything was “pissing him off” just enough to make an appointment with a psychologist.
He worked through things and by his own admission felt fine until this basketball coach experienced rebounds of a different kind a little over five years ago when he was diagnosed with depression.
“I think because of our blokey, ‘she’ll be right mate’, tough as nails culture I think it probably messes with us even more,” he said.
“I think there’s an inherent nature to want to be able to beat anything and this is not a disease that you readily beat.”
He might not be able to beat depression but he feels empowered by being able to shed a personal light on the dark nature of the ailment
“If there’s 1,000,000 of us out there and 999,990 aren’t talking about it then the other 10 are going to be pretty lonely and no-one is going to learn a thing about it.
“I feel like I have a responsibility to talk about it.”
If you or anyone you know wants to seek help, visit www.beyondblue.org.au.
