When Anthony was 22 he suffered a period of drug-induced psychosis and found himself in hospital for 3 months.  At this time he felt his world had pretty well collapsed and that he had no prospects.  He did recover completely from the psychosis but continued to have bouts of depression which made full time employment difficult.
It was suggested by one of the support workers at the charity MIND that Anthony sign up for an English GCSE course so that he could improve his concentration, occupy his time and also develop his childhood interest of reading and writing.
This small step into learning has enabled Anthony to achieve so much, after passing his GCSE English in 2001, he continued to study more courses and now has 4 ‘A’ levels which have opened up a whole world to him.  Anthony's plan now is to gain his degree in English from Nottingham University.
Anthony McConnell, age 33, from Nottinghamshire
Nominated by Yvonne Elliott, Adult Continuing Education