The 25-year-old landscaper from Nhill had had a long and painful mental health journey, starting when he was diagnosed with bipolar on the cusp of adulthood.

Years later, he has gone public with his journey, alongside starting a mental health outreach and support Facebook page.

Mr Cramer now seeks to help others battling mental health issues, starting with using his platform to advocate for a mental health inpatient facility in Horsham.

He said mental health crisis services could be challenging to access in the Wimmera.

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"There are services out there but they are hard to get into. I have had friends that have been sent to psych services but they just get turned away, because everything is so full and busy," he said.

"When people are struggling, and they get turned away, it is not a good thing for them, especially when they really need help.

"So having a crisis centre up here would be a big thing and it needs to happen."

Mr Cramer said his own experiences with mental health crisis services have made him aware of the issues many in regional Victoria.

His first mental health support services experience came when he was a 17-year-old boy admitted to a Melbourne psychiatric ward and diagnosed with bipolar.

Since then, Mr Cramer has been admitted to a psychiatric ward in Geelong, when he was 23, and in Ballarat, at 24.

"Going back to when I was 17, that was the hardest part. I kept going to the GP and they kept prescribing antidepressant after antidepressant and I was never getting better with my issues," he said.

"When you need to see a psychiatrist urgently and you have got to go to Melbourne or Geelong and wait six to eight weeks, for someone with mental illness that is a long time. A lot of damage can happen in that time."

In 2018, Mr Cramer lost a friend to suicide, something which he said impacted him significantly.

"I lost a friend to suicide in 2018 and four months later I saved someone's life from suicide. These issues are really big in this region and we need the facilities to knock it on the head," he said.

"My vision now is I want to see some sort of mental health facility or crisis centre in Horsham. It's the central part of the Wimmera, it's a massive area, and the suicide rate is way too high. That early intervention is critical."

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Mr Cramer will meet with Lowan member Emma Kealy to plead the case for building a facility. He hopes with Ms Kealy on board, his vision of Wimmera-based crisis mental health support will be realised.

"Having a facility, it might just give people a go to place and where they can go if they want that time out," he said.

"Because I know where I have been with my own experiences and trying to access help in this region and struggling at times. It is really hard.

"GPs can only do so much because they are only mental health practitioners; they are not mental health specialists.

"Friends of mine who have attempted suicide - maybe if we had those services they might still be here today."

Mr Cramer has enrolled in a mental health course at university to work in the sector.

"If you are struggling with your mental health just speak up. Try and get help and seek help for it. Do not try and hide away from it because things will not get worse," he said.

"I know that from my own experiences when I have bottled things up, and I ended up in institutions like I have because I didn't seek help in the early stages of it.

"Just speak up, people care and people love you."

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