THE founder of a mental health support organisation has called on employers to do better in supporting staff with mental health issues.

Steve Carr from Pinehurst had a breakdown at work five years ago and ended up becoming homeless not long after.

He said his employers assumed it was work-related stress instead of questioning if mental health was the problem.

“I wanted to keep busy because if I wasn’t busy then, I go inside my own head, which wasn’t a great place at the time,” he explained.

"I had a breakdown and it was fairly big, I ended up in tears at work. I didn’t know how to express my emotions, that’s common for us men.

“Typical workplaces don’t go into too much detail if you’ve not disclosed anything about your mental health in the first place. Personally, if I was an employer with an employee, prior to me knowing what I know now, I probably would have done the same thing.”

But he believes employers should be better at supporting their staff.

“They need to be asking whether their employees are okay whether they need to talk about something.”

He founded Mindcanyon on London Street three years ago after years of suffering in silence with multiple mental health issues that were rooted in being kicked out of his family home at 16, his brother dying in a car accident and being left homeless.

He resorted to drinking and taking drugs and has since been diagnosed with unresolved trauma, borderline PTSD, anxiety, depression and stress. After attempting to kill himself three times he decided to switch his life around and started Mindcanyon to help others.