Osher Gunsberg speaks about mental health at One Door Mental Health luncheon in Wollongong

The celebrity guest speaker at the corporate luncheon by One Door Mental Health Illawarra touched on the topic of mental health in the workplace with his own uplifting examples.

"If you have to remember one thing from today remember this, you can't use your brain that is in trouble to make your way out of trouble," he said.

During the event at the Novotel Wollongong Mr Gunsberg said the most important step to take when dealing with mental health conditions is accepting you have mental health conditions.

"The quicker you come to acceptance, the quicker you can jump into action."

The Bachelor host spoke of a particular work trip to the USA which later became the reason for his deteriorating mental health.

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"In September 2001, I was working in the music television industry and my crew was in Los Angeles when an out-of-control mob just started attacking us," he said.

Mr Gunsberg narrowly escaped but one of the cameramen was badly injured and had to be hospitalised.

Hoping for the trip to turn around, the crew made their way to the next destination, New York, but little did they know it was all going to go downhill.

"It was September 2001 and we were in New York, the worst time to be in New York because that's when 9/11 attacks happened."

"We were up in the hotel room and all we could hear were sirens. The street was filled with people."

The 48-year-old said he was grateful to return to Sydney without any physical injuries but he didn't know his mental health was going to pay the price in the years to come.

"I was 26, working in music television and having the time of my life but things just didn't feel right." he said.

Mr Gunsberg stopped watching the news and the sound of the news bulletin would instantly send waves of terror across his brain.

"I would just sit there staring at the lonely thumbtacks on my spongy cubicle wall for hours", he said, "it was when my boss asked me if I was okay I realised that I wasn't."

Mr Gunsberg sought help from a psychologist and was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder.

"When I didn't accept it he made me read a portion from a book on PTSD and it was like someone had been taking notes of my life and had written it down exactly word for word."

Mr Gunsberg's road to recovery was not an easy one.

The Masked Singer host admitted putting up all kinds of avoidance behaviours so he didn't have to deal with uncomfortable thoughts and feelings.

"I was drinking and gambling, I thought if I drank enough everything would get better."

With years of perseverance, help from medical professionals and support from his workplace, Osher Gunsberg has been able to get better.

"The life I have now, the family I have now, the quality of work I do now is a direct result of the daily practices I do to stay mentally healthy and that includes medication, therapy, daily exercise and gratitude practice."

Mr Gunsberg said he initially couldn't conceive of a time when he wouldn't wake up without a negative thought but was only able to make things better by getting inspired by others' stories.

"Hearing stories from people who were where I wanted to be helped me and today I'm just trying to give what was given to me," he said.

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