ReThink Mental Health services Claire Hoggart

TO MOST of us, Eyre Street is nothing more than a big bus route and home to the Cheesegrater car park.

But to some, it’s home to a life-saving organisation, Rethink Mental Illness.

Rethink Mental Illness provides support for carers of mental illness sufferers, as well as housing support and advice. And James Barlow is at the centre of it all. He provides training and support for the family and friends of sufferers of illnesses such as schizophrenia.

“Illnesses such as schizophrenia can have a huge impact on the lives of carers. It can affect carers emotionally and financially – as many of them have to reduce their working hours in order to fit in their role as a carer.”

Caring for people with schizophrenia is made more difficult by the stigmatisation, lack of understanding and scant medical research on schizophrenia.