Conan Martin Visser, 37, pleaded guilty to seven counts of drug supply and one of possession in Brisbane District Court on Friday after selling and sharing cocaine with friends over two months in 2020.
However, Visser - who started the "I Can I Will" charity before making a "wildly successful" TikTok documentary - avoided prison after receiving a suspended nine-month jail term.
Defence barrister Chris Minnery said Visser turned to drugs while on bail for a domestic violence offence, hitting "rock bottom" after his plans to expand on his charity work derailed in 2020.
Visser started the charity that helped vulnerable children cope with mental health and bullying almost 10 years ago, at one stage working with 30 Queensland schools.
"All of it out of his pocket," Mr Minnery said.
Visser realised it was "unsustainable" and scaled down his work to individual support before developing a TV children's health program "with a producer in Los Angeles".
However, it fell apart and he lost a $100,000 investment.
Mr Minnery said Visser had also received unwanted media attention after being found guilty of assaulting his then girlfriend in 2020, claiming it resulted in online death threats "over four to six months".
"It was around that time that he really hit rock bottom," Mr Minnery told the court.
"He was subject to media attention due to those charges, subject to threats, he was desperately anxious, unemployed and unsupported.
"He had lost every asset that he had. It was probably the darkest point of my client's life."
Visser was arrested on the drug charges after three months of police surveillance.
Crown prosecutor Kimberley Thomas said Visser was found with 0.16 grams of a substance containing cocaine.
She said Visser had sold and shared cocaine in amounts ranging from 0.5g to two grams with friends for months.
The court was told Visser had been previously sentenced for the domestic violence offence in September 2020 and for using a carriage service to harass and cause offence to his then girlfriend in June 2022.
"At the time of the drug offences you were ... on bail for assaults on your then girlfriend and then just days after your release on bail for the cocaine you engaged in harassment," Judge Leanne Clare said.
However, Visser is set to maintain his TikTok success after receiving a jail term suspended for two years.
Mr Minnery said Visser had secured government funding for a health documentary series on the social media platform.
He said the most recent entry that explored the effect of daily alcohol consumption for a month on mental and physical health had been "wildly successful" with 22 million views in 10 weeks.
Visser hopes to expand the series, taking the project overseas and also working with remote Indigenous Australian communities.
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