MENTAL illness affects one in four people in Britain at any one time but often it is neither recognised nor treated.

It can occur in varying degrees from serious forms of schizophrenia, to depression and stress so severe it can affect the sufferer so badly they can't function normally.

In milder cases of mental illness, people often suffer in silence, without knowing where to go for help or what's available.

But it needn't be like that and one of the latest approaches to helping people recover from less extreme forms of the illness is adult education - and it's proving a huge success.

More than 100 people are currently being supported by Guild Community Healthcare's education service operating through the three main colleges in the area.

Under a variety of programmes organised by adult education co-ordinator Jane Woolfenden, people attend the colleges to build up their interpersonal skills, self confidence and assertiveness.

Jane said: "Once you have the basic skills in reading and writing, people feel so much better about themselves, it's the confidence they gain."

ONE woman who's a perfect example of the success of the scheme is Lynne Needham.

The former office worker watched her life collapse around her after being made redundant a few years ago.

She went from being in charge of a whole office to having no "reason to get out of bed".

With no responsibilities and nothing to work for, Lynne's sense of self soon plummeted. She felt worthless, depressed, and was eventually admitted to hospital suffering from mental illness.

She said: "What really made me ill was my pride. Being made redundant knocked me off my pedestal and I didn't like it."

While in hospital, she met adult education co-ordinator Jane Woolfenden who persuaded her to take up a flower arranging course.

She progressed to more demanding studies and three years on Lynne's just completed an NVQ in floristry and is going on to do a professional course with a view to starting her own business.

She said: "The course gave me an objective, the alternative was just sitting at home pottering around, wallowing in self-pity. It wasn't easy and I wasn't always well, but I was determined to finish what I'd started."

A few weeks ago Lynne was back at the class at the day hospital where she first began studying floristry - only this time she wasn't a patient, she was a teacher!

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