Seeing the Funny Side of Depression

Seeing the Funny Side of Depression, the Comedian Determined to Fight Back

In 2016 comedian Nathan Hedley had his world changed when he was diagnosed with depression. Hedley, however, took it in his stride and has since been using it as a tool to start a tough conversation.

Hedley has devised an hour-long stand-up show called “Searching for Happiness” which deals with his experiences with depression.

Hedley describes his show which he has toured at fringe festivals throughout the country as being a talk about “mental health, depression and suicide all mixed into one to make an awesome and inspiring comedy show.”

Outside of comedy is studying to be a social worker he claims that doing comedy and talking about mental health on stage inspired him to go into the field and help others.

“I think my show inspired me to go into the field so I could be able to communicate with people after the show,” Hedley said. “And if people messaged my page, I would be able to handle it in a better way than I could of before.”

“I really wanted to get out and help others who are going through what I’ve been through,” Hedley said.

Hedley also uses comedy as a means of raising money for charity. He did a charity gig fundraising for the mental health organisation “Daisy Chain.” And Earlier in the year he put together a line up show called “Comedy for a Cause” which raised over $500 for the Heart Kids Foundation.

“Comedy has helped me talk about depression a bit more which is something I think people need to do more is talk about it and get it out in the open.”

Recent figures show that suicide is now at the highest level since records began 12 years ago. Nathan believes that lack of communication and understanding is a core problem behind these alarming figures.

“I think people like myself, Mike King and Cori Gonzales-Macuer who talk about this stuff really help raise awareness and encourage people to go home and talk about mental health and the effects it has on not only the older generation but the younger generation.”

Nathan Hedley will next be performing “Searching for Happiness” on September 12th at the Dux Central as a part of the Go Media Comedy Carnival.

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