It is a sunny Monday morning and Gary Fry has returned to his central Queensland flat with hot chips after a solo walk to the shops.
"I can get lonely," he says.
Mr Fry is among the one in 100 Australians who live with the complex brain disorder schizophrenia.
It causes people to have an altered experience of reality including delusions and hallucinations – impacting their thoughts, perceptions and behaviour.
"It used to be terrible back in the day," Mr Fry said of the mental illness.
"A lot of people always blame me for everything, it's always the schizophrenia … [people] say you're some sort of psycho."
Mr Fry does not drink alcohol.
"Mixing one thing and the other, taking your pills and all sorts of things – it can quite easily make you sick or die."
The 67-year-old manages his symptoms with a monthly injection.
But it has been a difficult road for the central Queensland man, who has spent most of his life moving between different cities and towns to psychiatric wards, confined institutions, emergency accommodation and to the streets.
"I got bashed over the head at hospital a long time ago.
"[I] lose a bit of concentration, sometimes go down a troubled path."
He finds joy in the little things, such as listening to the radio, flicking through magazines and reading library books.
"I think there's misunderstanding between schizophrenia and people that don't have schizophrenia.
"Do I think the community cares about me? It's hard to say.
"I suppose some people care about me, but they've got their own way, they've got their own families, kids, their own problems."
What is citizen advocacy?
Garry Turnbull, a retired architect, has been Mr Fry's advocate and minder for three years.
"You never replace family, but it's very important for [Gary] to feel needed and to feel a sense that people in the community do care for him," he said.
They were paired through Capricorn Citizen Advocacy (CCA) — a state government-funded organisation that links advocates (everyday people) with proteges (people with cognitive or communication difficulties or those in vulnerable situations).
The match is made to improve the proteges' quality of life and assist with their fundamental needs.
"I call in – not to register does he need anything but just to create the space where he can talk to somebody and know that somebody taking care of him is around," Mr Turnbull said.
Mr Turnbull said his role was behind the scenes for Mr Fry, but obvious for the wider community.
"They always come in with a premeditated attitude that he's a lesser person," Mr Turnbull said.
"With medical people, doctors, they know there's someone watching that he's getting the right attention.
"With police officers, I've told them that this is a sensitive issue, and they have to treat it as such – I'm on the list as being the first point of contact if anything goes wrong.
"[But] I like him to represent himself."
'Falling through the cracks'
Mr Turnbull is blunt about what his protege's situation might be like if he did not have assistance.
"Probably in a very confined institution or dead," Mr Turnbull said.
Mr Turnbull advocates for about six people in the community, assisting them with representation in health, law and government issues – for free.
"They've fallen through the cracks," he said.
"[The community should] be conscious that there are people that are different and need time and space to exercise their own life."
The 72-year-old said many people lacked empathy, sensitivity and failed to accept difference and diversity.
"Unfortunately, government, law and order, and everybody else doesn't understand – they don't take the notice or the time to understand," Mr Turnbull said.
Mental Illness Fellowship of Australia chief executive Tony Stevenson said society's reliance on myths and stereotypes often prevented people from seeking help.
"We need to understand that schizophrenia and other severe mental health conditions are just like any other health condition," Mr Stevenson said.
"We need to reach out and support people."
He said the perception of split personalities and inherent violence was false.
"That's a very distressing experience."
More investment needed
People living with schizophrenia have a one-in-10 chance of dying by suicide compared to 12.1 per 100,000 in the general population, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
Mr Stevenson said people with schizophrenia had a life expectancy up to 19 years lower than the general population.
"The support is quite fragmented, we don't have a mental health system that is easy to understand and to navigate," he said.
Mr Stevenson said more investment was needed to help people with severe mental illness live well and feel connected to their communities.
"For some, it will be very basic things like getting access to affordable and stable housing, feeling comfortable to be able to leave your home, shopping, cooking," he said.
"For others, it will be about getting into work and supporting people to continue to study."
Not perfect, but better
CCA coordinator Ewan Filmer met Mr Fry five years ago when he was living at Ozenam House – a temporary accommodation shelter in Rockhampton.
"He has the NDIS, which he didn't have when we first met him and that provides him with a psychologist, a cleaner, support workers," Mr Filmer said.
"His accommodation is much better.
"It's not what we think is perfect, but it's better."
Mr Fry is already thinking about moving out west, but for now, he is content.
"I found a place to stay," he said.
