Mr Burton spoke to students from Years 9, 10 and 11, and he said he wanted the take-home message to be one of staying on top of things in your life.

“I just talk about what the book is about, which is my time growing up and a lot of the stuff I was dealing with, my family, and dealing with mental health issues,” he said.

“And I just try to do it in a very up front, funny, accessible way, because we don’t talk about that stuff often enough with our young people.

“Just by statistics we know that our young people these days are incredibly vulnerable to mental illness and for many it’s fatal and an awful experience to go through.

“So I spend a lot of time being funny and telling anecdotes but I’m very careful to make sure they leave with an assertive message about self preservation and staying on top of stuff.

“Because we are just losing too many young people to suicide.”

He added that he wants to tell young people now what he wishes he’d have been told when he was growing up – warts and all.

“The whole reason why I’m here and why I wrote the book is that I wanted someone to talk to me like this,” he said.

“To have an adult tell me their incredibly embarrassing, stupid stories about growing up – which we all have – about how confused they were and how awful they felt some days.

“And to realise that it’s all normal to worry about sexuality, how you fit in, and who you are, and all of those things.” 

In terms of delivery Mr Burton said he always aims to make it a lively show, he’s written musicals and plays and although he mentions in his talks that he’s a frustrated actor this provides him an outlet to take to a stage.

“It’s basically a one-man show these talks, so they’re very intense but it’s great to get a response and have that kind of communication with the kids,” he said.

Mr Burton was in town for the Mudgee Readers Festival.

“It’s an extraordinary event and you see how receptive people are, It was a complete treat,” he said.