Keith Dymond had been looking forward to his retirement, swimming in the warm seas off Tenerife and writing children's stories. But at the age of 59, his plans crashed around him after he suffered a breakdown and was on the brink of suicide. The collapse was triggered by the loss of his job as a local authority manager.
He hit rock bottom 18 months ago. Since then, he has rebuilt his self-esteem and self-worth and has a new job as an account manager for one of Britain's most innovative employment projects. And along with his new post, he says, he has rediscovered the will to live.
The employment initiative in Cornwall that allowed Dymond to get back on his feet has received little national attention. But John Mahoney, joint head of mental health at the Department of Health, described it as "fantastic" after paying a visit during the summer while on holiday in the area.
The initiative is called Pentreath Industries. It provides work experience, jobs and training for people with severe mental health problems in one of the country's unemployment blackspots. Part of its success is the way it has adopted a dual-track approach, developing operations which take advantage of Cornwall's popularity as a tourist destination while also offering training in office skills, computer literacy and desktop publishing at its own printworks in St Austell.
Pentreath currently has 12 separate projects, including seven emerging social firms, dotted around the county. These include a guest house in Falmouth, with extra facilities for the disabled; Cornish World, a quarterly magazine for Cornish exiles; Pedals, a bicycle hire and restoration business; and Cornish Wood, a woodworking business making planters and birdhouses sold through the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
The success of Pentreath, a registered charity, has gone against all the odds. Only this year, Cornwall was made a priority area by the European Union and awarded "objective one" status in recognition of its ailing rural economy. The farming and fishing communities are still in crisis. Transport remains a huge problem in a county 120 miles long. Yet employment and training opportunities for people with severe mental health problems have never been better.
People with schizophrenia or manic depression, who 11 years ago might have folded bandages - for nominal pay - as industrial therapy at St Lawrence's hospital in Bodmin, have set up their own businesses or found permanent employment after training with Pentreath.
The charity was set up by Cornwall and Isles of Scilly health authority in 1990 as part of the care in the community drive. The number of trainees has since risen from 50 to 500. All have a history of severe mental illness and have been referred by community mental health teams.
For Dymond, who was a £22,000-a-year training manager for Cornwall county council, the charity offered him a lifeline after he lost his job in a management shake-up. He recalls: "Those were the worst four months of my life. It was absolutely dreadful.
"I was given alternative work but I was left totally demoralised. What happened was unbelievable. I had a breakdown 15 years ago, but this was worse. I eventually cracked and ended up in hospital. There was no light at the end of the tunnel."
He was forced to sell his luxurious, four-bedroom bungalow and find somewhere smaller. However, that has also proved too expensive - with the result that he has been forced to sell up a second time in 18 months and buy something smaller still.
Dymond, who is receiving long-term treatment for severe depression, is philosophical after the trauma of the past two years. He says: "My wife and I were really looking forward to going to Tenerife. That will never happen, but I went on a computer training course with Pentreath and I am now working again - something I did not think was possible a few months ago."
Another success story is that of Neil, who wishes not to be identified, who at the age of 29 thought he would never get a job after spending long periods in and out of hospital. Last year, he realised his dream of working at the Lost Gardens of Heligan, near Mevagissey, after completing a national vocational qualification in environmental conservation and gaining a number of machine handling qualifications while a trainee with Pentreath.
Mike Helliwell, senior gardener at Heligan, says: "Neil's performance is entirely up to our expectations. His time-keeping and reliability are faultless, and he has some impressive machine-handling qualifications."
Most Pentreath trainees complete one of 24 accredited courses at sites across the county. Training is also offered in horticulture and landscape design, with opportunities to work at Heaven Scent Nurseries, another emerging social firm at St Austell.
Penny Robertson, Pentreath's chief executive, says: "People who come to Pentreath often think they have no future. Mental illness is so destructive it takes away a person's confidence or self-esteem. The illness and medication not only take away a person's skill level, they also take away hope. At times, people can't control their thought processes. It is the final indignity.
"The first thing we do is sit down and talk to people at an early stage and identify something the person is interested in. We try to identify vocational aspirations and a route to achieve it. Sometimes we identify things which people think they want to do but aren't achievable. We try to achieve realistic perceptions of what people can do. If we don't offer the training required, we try to find it from another source."
A good relationship with employers in the county has resulted in 40 companies offering training placements. Links are currently being forged with Cornwall College, which offers catering courses. It is hoped there will be an opportunity to provide on-the-job training at Trevaylor, the £250,000 Falmouth guesthouse which Pentreath bought with the help of a grant from the national lottery charities board.
Grants account for almost 90% of Pentreath's income, which last year amounted to more than £1m. A third of this was core funding from Cornwall Healthcare Trust, which provides backing for each trainee for three years. This was matched by a grant from the European Social Fund. A further 10% came from the lottery charities board, and 8% was generated from trading by the social firms.
The charity has come a long way since 1990. During the past 12 months, 19 people went into full-time jobs. Yet there is still a waiting list of people with mental health problems wanting to join. Robertson says: "Our work has only just begun. We must expand our existing operations, establish new projects in some areas and extend our partnerships with local employers."
For Dymond, who now works full-time for Pentreath, the charity has given him his life back. "If it was not for Pentreath I would not be around," he says. "I was given a step up just when I needed it. For that I feel very privileged."
Benefits and stresses of hard-edged projects
A store of unclaimed push bikes at Penzance police station was instrumental in the setting up of Pedals, Pentreath's bicycle hire business. The machines have been carefully restored by trainees who started work last autumn.
The doors of the business were opened at Easter. With 40 bicycles and five trailers for hire at a prime site opposite the town's railway station, Pentreath hopes that Pedals may soon be a real money-spinner. Helen Field, project leader, says that as well as learning about bike restoration, trainees are developing their own route maps and guides.
People with mental health problems are also involved in producing the quarterly magazine Cornish World. Out of print for a year, it was relaunched last December, and now has more than 1,000 subscribers worldwide.
Field, says working in the commercial world means there is a "hard edge" to the business. Work can offer benefits, but also stresses. While some trainees had gone on to university or full-time work, others have dropped out. "We are working in a commercial world, but we are also working with people who are ill, who might become poorly and need a break," says Field. "If you imagine therapy as a swimming pool, we are the deep end."
