Cowboy takes teens in reality ride
Slow talkin' slow walkin' Cameron O’Keeffe cuts a fine figure in jeans, chambray shirt, black Akubra and matching R.M. Williams’ boots.
When he arrives at Southport High School, he’ll hear a few sniggers and stifled laughs – perhaps some out-and-out derision.
But Cameron – better known as Cowboy – will shrug it all aside.
Later he’ll stride tall and proud into their classrooms and open their adolescent eyes and minds to what will become a reality for some of them, either by course of nature or by a few seemingly innocent spliffs or bongs, maybe some bad acid, eccies or speed.
Cowboy has been living with paranoid schizophrenia since his own, long-gone drug smoking days.
“Yeah, didn’t take too many for me,” he will tell kids verging on young adulthood.
“Same for some friends of mine; a few smokes of dope can get you high but land you in a living nightmare, not knowing what is real and what is not.”
He wants the young people to become more aware of mental health issues: to recognise the symptoms, how to seek help, how to encourage their mates seek help, not to take the piss out of people affected by mental illness.
“We are everyday people trying to get on in an everyday world, some of us handling it better than others” Cowboy said.
“I’ve been going well. I know now when I am getting unwell. It comes on quick.
“You’ve got to take your medications, be strong and learn to recognise that some of the things you see and hear aren’t real, it’s just the mental illness.”
Cowboy was inspired to take on the role of mental health “ambassador” by his dad, Wayne O’Keeffe, who started out in North Queensland but now lives at the Sunshine Coast.
“Dad works through Mental Health Education Australia,” he said.
“He helps people with bipolar, with disabilities and supports people in hospital.
“That’s what I want to do.”
Cowboy’s camo backpack is chockers with pamphlets and other information about such organisations as the Salvos, Vinnie's, Stillwater, etc that he hands out wherever he goes, trying to help his mates and others he comes across.
He recently moved into a single unit in Palm Beach, thanks to Horizon Housing Company.
“It’s great to be independent, to have stability … I’ll get a Housing Commission place of my own one day, that’s my goal.”
But the stress of shifting triggered some psychotic episodes.
“I was lucky,” Cowboy said.
“I dropped into Rosies and Kathleen recognised I was getting ill so she put me in a car straight away and took me to see my doctor.”
That’s partly why Cowboy makes the long bus trip from Palm Beach to Southport for Rosie’s lunches, to keep in touch with the friendly team of volunteers.
“I also have mates up and down the coast and I see a lot of them here,” he said.
Some of those mates will join him to celebrate his birthday tomorrow (Wednesday 31 May).
“Yeah we’ll just get together and share some nibblies, have a few laughs,” Cowboy said.
“We plan to go up to Springbrook at the weekend and do some bush walking but the weather’s not looking too good.
“Could be a bit wet .. but (his face splits like a watermelon) I could have a Drizabone by then!”
“I’ve been saving up for a new pair of black R.Ms. Dad said he’ll give me some money and I think my mates will chip in a bit, too. There’s a deal on where if you buy the boots they throw in a Drizabone.
“Great! That’ll keep out the rain and wind and cold.”
Happy birthday Cameron – and, mate … YEE HAR!
When he arrives at Southport High School, he’ll hear a few sniggers and stifled laughs – perhaps some out-and-out derision.
But Cameron – better known as Cowboy – will shrug it all aside.
Later he’ll stride tall and proud into their classrooms and open their adolescent eyes and minds to what will become a reality for some of them, either by course of nature or by a few seemingly innocent spliffs or bongs, maybe some bad acid, eccies or speed.
Cowboy has been living with paranoid schizophrenia since his own, long-gone drug smoking days.
“Yeah, didn’t take too many for me,” he will tell kids verging on young adulthood.
“Same for some friends of mine; a few smokes of dope can get you high but land you in a living nightmare, not knowing what is real and what is not.”
He wants the young people to become more aware of mental health issues: to recognise the symptoms, how to seek help, how to encourage their mates seek help, not to take the piss out of people affected by mental illness.
“We are everyday people trying to get on in an everyday world, some of us handling it better than others” Cowboy said.
“I’ve been going well. I know now when I am getting unwell. It comes on quick.
“You’ve got to take your medications, be strong and learn to recognise that some of the things you see and hear aren’t real, it’s just the mental illness.”
Cowboy was inspired to take on the role of mental health “ambassador” by his dad, Wayne O’Keeffe, who started out in North Queensland but now lives at the Sunshine Coast.
“Dad works through Mental Health Education Australia,” he said.
“He helps people with bipolar, with disabilities and supports people in hospital.
“That’s what I want to do.”
Cowboy’s camo backpack is chockers with pamphlets and other information about such organisations as the Salvos, Vinnie's, Stillwater, etc that he hands out wherever he goes, trying to help his mates and others he comes across.
He recently moved into a single unit in Palm Beach, thanks to Horizon Housing Company.
“It’s great to be independent, to have stability … I’ll get a Housing Commission place of my own one day, that’s my goal.”
But the stress of shifting triggered some psychotic episodes.
“I was lucky,” Cowboy said.
“I dropped into Rosies and Kathleen recognised I was getting ill so she put me in a car straight away and took me to see my doctor.”
That’s partly why Cowboy makes the long bus trip from Palm Beach to Southport for Rosie’s lunches, to keep in touch with the friendly team of volunteers.
“I also have mates up and down the coast and I see a lot of them here,” he said.
Some of those mates will join him to celebrate his birthday tomorrow (Wednesday 31 May).
“Yeah we’ll just get together and share some nibblies, have a few laughs,” Cowboy said.
“We plan to go up to Springbrook at the weekend and do some bush walking but the weather’s not looking too good.
“Could be a bit wet .. but (his face splits like a watermelon) I could have a Drizabone by then!”
“I’ve been saving up for a new pair of black R.Ms. Dad said he’ll give me some money and I think my mates will chip in a bit, too. There’s a deal on where if you buy the boots they throw in a Drizabone.
“Great! That’ll keep out the rain and wind and cold.”
Happy birthday Cameron – and, mate … YEE HAR!
