Nick Bracks: Neighbours newbie’s mental health battle
AT HIS lowest Nick Bracks couldn’t get out of bed or leave his home. Battling a depression which started in his teenage years, the actor’s behaviour spiralled into alcohol abuse and landed him in life-threatening situations during his early 20s.
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AT HIS lowest Nick Bracks couldn’t get out of bed or leave his home. Battling a depression which started in his teenage years, the actor’s behaviour spiralled into alcohol abuse and landed him in life-threatening situations during his early 20s.
Now the 31-year-old Neighbours newcomer and former underwear model is reaching out to help others in similar situations.
Last year he launched a mindfulness and meditation app called Happy Waves that took him three years to develop and offers courses in topics that range from anxiety to relationships.
And he has signed on as an ambassador with Lysn, an online platform connecting clients with mental health professionals.
He also goes into high schools regularly to talk to teens about mental health. His message to them is simple: it’s OK not to have all the answers and that mental illness is nothing to be ashamed about.
“I suffered from depression as a teen. At the time I didn’t know what was wrong, but I knew something was wrong,” the son of former Victorian premier Steve Bracks tells BW Magazine. “It was quite debilitating, I couldn’t get out of bed, couldn’t face the world, I wasn’t working. I became totally inactive and then it became harder to take action.
“It was horrible. Later, I used alcohol to cope and at the time of the accident, I was out of control.”
The accident Bracks refers to is the 2007 incident where he crashed the family car while under the influence with his best mate in the back seat.
With the help of family and friends, Bracks was able to get the help he so desperately needed, seeing a psychologist and developing an action plan to get his life back on track.
Part of his recovery involved pursuing things in life he previously thought he was incapable of doing — such as acting and public speaking.
These days he splits his time between both — as Lassiters receptionist Brandon Danker on Neighbours, which started as a guest role but keeps getting extended; and speaking publicly about his own mental health history in the hope of helping others.
“I went from being a catatonically shy kid, where I couldn’t even look a person in the eye, to acting and public speaking,” he says.
“The last thing I would have thought I’d end up doing is either of those things. But I wanted to start to put myself out there and not worry so much what others thought.
“I actually started studying acting to help me with public speaking. I did a year-long full time course and I still do classes every week.
“I especially love speaking to kids in schools, I get such positive feedback from them. Mental illness affects a huge amount of kids, especially with social media and the pressures of modern-day society.
“I try to get across the message that mental illness is no different to a physical injury. We’re all human and we all have different things to deal with — every one of us.
“I talk to them in a real and raw way and they respond to that.”
Bracks works on his mental health through daily exercise and twice-daily meditation sessions, which he says is fundamental to staying well.
“Even if you don’t suffer from mental illness, exercise and meditation is something everyone can benefit from,” he says.
“If you have a better mind set, you are better able to deal with challenges.”