Justin Heazlewood

Not really and not enough.

She had been hospitalised when I was just a baby.

I was a baby in a psychiatric unit.

I dug out some old medical records at one point and was trying to get my head around how all that played out.

But she was severely unwell, but just well enough to hide it from the public.

She had a doctor.

They didn't really do much.

I don't think she told them the full story.

She was just on these malarule tablets that made her a bit of a zombie.

So Mum and I did an amazing impression of being a normal family to the point where I'd go to school and be a pretty good student and Mum was even Mother's Help at Montello Primary.

And so...

That's how high-functioning Mum was.

I think that's a testament to her character.

I think she worked so incredibly hard to think about how she was going to be a good mum for me the next day, despite what she had going on in her head.

Look, I had surrogate parents in my nan and pop.

I'd go over there every weekend, almost without fail, to Wynyard, and it was a real saving grace for me.

The thing is, nan was sort of like...

my life coach.

She's an extremely strong-willed, tough, older lady, very of that generation of the northwest coast of Tasmania.

She was sort of the, wore the pants in the relationship and she was just like, what are we going to do about your mum, Justin?