David de Jong said when it came to mental illnesses he had been "diagnosed with everything under the sun".
"So schizophrenia at 19, soon after that they thought I had bipolar but that was rescinded," he said.
"I've had anxiety disorder for a very long time... depression I had as well [and] in the last three years I was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder so schizophrenia was rescinded."
And last year he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
But this doesn't define Mr de Jong. He is a father-of-three who has worked as an ambulance officer, a paramedic and a firefighter - including a stint with the Israeli fire brigade on the West Bank.
He has fulfilled his childhood dreams but when he was a teenager he didn't think it would happen.
"I had a careers advisor when I was 14 and when I said to her I wanted to be an ambulance officer or in the fire brigade she said 'no you don't have the grades'," Mr de Jong said.
"And then I started to smoke marijuana and that's how I got induced with marijuana when I was 19 years old."
He said both he and his doctors said there was a link between the marijuana use and schizoaffective disorder.
Mr de Jong was institutionalised in the 1990s and has spent stints in hospital. He had difficulties with medications but after much persistence and communication with multiple doctors he was able to find treatment that suited him. This is complemented with self-care and self-belief.
"Everyone manages differently and you need to trust yourself," he said.
Mr de Jong said mental health disorders were still widely misunderstood and he had faced discrimination. He said he lost friends due to illness and that relationships with family members had fractured.
But he wants to smash the stigma surrounding mental illness.
"What people don't realise is that mental health is just the same as any other condition... you take insulin for diabetes, I take medicine for my mental illness and I'm functional just like everyone else," Mr de Jong said.
Mr de Jong said he is doing well at present.
"I'm holding it all really well, I'm happy, I'm really happy in life things can't be better," he said.
"There's a saying, 'you don't know the good until you have had the bad' and I think that if you don't know what bad is you'll never really know what good is when you count your blessings at the end of the day."
Mr de Jong said he has reached a pivotal point in his life, his psychologist described it as the "self-acceptance" stage of his life.
He said this had spurred him to share his story. He is a volunteer with Mental Illness Education ACT (MIEACT) and tells his story to small groups across the territory.
"I'm a very motivational person and MIEACT is just sensational in bringing out the mental illness stigma and discrimination and to educate people about it all," Mr de Jong said.
"I've always done jobs helping people. When I was a kid I was just raised that it was good to help people and that's why I wanted to do it.
"I'm very open about it now, I've come to the stage where I don't care if people know."
- Lifeline: 13 11 14
- Beyond Blue: 1300 224 636
