"The worst times led to the best of times!"

I became unwell in 2001 after the death of my father, we had been very close. I was admitted to Bassetlaw Hospital Ward B2 and sectioned with a diagnosis of depression and psychotic episodes.

External events were giving me lots of strange delusions - I started to think that national disasters and news events were my fault or linked to me. It was a frightening time. I was very paranoid, I trusted no one, not even family members. I went to hospital voluntarily, but ran away from the ward and was later sectioned because of my suicidal thoughts.

Eventually I was released but the strain broke up my marriage. Despite the stress of that I started to recover as I had two young children to bring up, and they were reliant on me.

Since then I've had two repeat episodes caused by work related stress. I lost both jobs as a result. After the third incident I was diagnosed with Bipolar Affective Disorder.

This time I became positive about my recovery and after looking for a support group in the Bassetlaw area and not finding one, I went on to set up a support group with the assistance of staff from within the trust. The group is called Equilibrial (on my wavelength).

Now I feel good about myself, my self esteem has rocketed. I can monitor my own condition and help others through the group. More recently I have trained as a Peer Support Worker and am now employed by the Trust.