Diane Breeze suffered from poor mental health for years. But the self-belief that she started to build on her learning journey has put her on the road to recovery.

When she was younger, Diane was told that she would never work, which destroyed her confidence. Since completing the Certificate in Community Mental Health, however, she has started to work full-time for mental health services.

“I thought the certificate would help me to understand my illness better,” Diane, 42, says. “It did give me insight into this but also helped me to see how services worked.” This new knowledge helped her recovery, and, through an employment scheme linked to the course, to work with other people with mental health needs.  The biggest change to her life is her relationship with her two sons and husband. “My teenage sons are impressed by all of this,” she says. “Before this they just saw me as a mum who had a mental illness and saw their dad as being the breadwinner and decision-maker.”

A big turning point was being able to call the benefits office and tell them she was fully employed. “I feel like someone who is contributing to society rather than someone on benefits.”  Her family and people around her now see her differently. “I see knowledge as power and recognising that I have dyslexia has helped me to realise that I am not thick, but have missed valuable opportunities in the past,” she says. This is far from the end of Diane’s learning experience.

Diane was nominated by Diane Morris of City of Stoke-on-Trenty Adult Social Care and she received an West Midlands Regional Adult Learners' Week Award.