DEPRESSED and out of work, Phil Davies wasn't even looking for employment when he wandered in to his local Jobcentre Plus, but what he found there was to change his life.
He'd planned to make inquiries about Incapacity Benefit but he was told about the confidence-boosting GOALS (Gaining Opportunities and Living Skills) course delivered by Shaw Trust, the national charity that helps thousands of disabled and disadvantaged people achieve work and independence.
Initially wary, Phil signed up for the two day course and has never looked back. The fully qualified chef found work at a local restaurant within days. When economic circumstances meant he lost it, undaunted, he immediately found himself another.
"Shaw Trust gave me that extra boost that I needed and showed me things that I didn't know about myself," he said. "I just thought, I've got to go forward in life."
Now 47, Phil, who lives in Lytham St Anne's with his trainee police officer son Ryan, had been dealing with severe depression and anxiety for years following the break-up of his marriage.
"I was in a terrible state," he remembers. "I was really really down and had taken to drinking."
Then came the fateful trip to Jobcentre Plus in Lytham St Anne's and a meeting with the Incapacity Benefit Personal Advisor Mike Cole, who told Phil he thought the GOALS course was just what he needed.
The two-day motivational training programme helps to build people's confidence and self esteem, helping them to develop a 'can do' attitude.
More than 30,000 people across the
Phil met Personal Development Adviser Mike Burrell at Shaw Trust in
"I was a bit wary at first, wondering whether it was for me," Phil admits. "But it changed my outlook on everything and it tells you things about yourself that you didn't know.
"I'd completely let myself go and had hit rock bottom. With the help of the GOALS course, I got off my backside. It showed me where I was going wrong and put me in the right direction."
"I've got confidence now. At the end of the course I just sat there, gobsmacked and thought 'I've just got to do this'."
Dave Mckee is fully aware of the dramatic impact GOALS can make in such a short space of time and says that's probably because it's so concentrated. "Motivational courses and be strung out; some can be just two hours a week or two hours, two days a week over 13 weeks," he explains.
"GOALS is two days of concentrated explanation of how self esteem is lowered or destroyed, how that can be stopped and how, using tools and techniques, self esteem can then be rebuilt. It empowers the individual to take responsibility for his or her own life.
"Out of 12 people on every course I would say eight are dramatically affected and it just takes a little bit longer for the other four.
"Phil's a cracking guy and he's taken control of his own life."
A local restaurant took Phil on a work trial and the boss was so impressed that he was offered a job as a chef on the first day. When tough economic conditions meant he had to leave, Phil was undaunted.
"I read my GOALS book, which is like a bible, and thought, no, let's be positive. Shaw Trust gave me that direction," he says.
"It's very hard to talk to employers, to say 'I have got mental illness and depression'. Most don't understand," he says. "Another job didn't work out, but once again, I got myself back up, got my GOALS book out and I was back in employment in about five days."
He called to see his friend Ken Pickering who, since taking on the St George's Hotel in Station Road in Kirkham, last October, has been single-handedly giving it a facelift.
The kitchen had not been used for two years and while Ken planned to reopen it eventually, he was concentrating on the hotel. Phil immediately offered to take the kitchen on and spent four weeks cleaning, refitting, redecorating and ready to reopen to the public on Monday April 28.
More importantly, he was able to be open and honest with Ken and tell him about his past. "Ken just said he was glad I'd told him and if more employers did this it would be brilliant," Phil says. "There's a stigma about mental illness, if you mention it."
Ken himself considers it "very, very fortunate" that Phil came in to see him. "Re-opening the kitchen was always in the pipeline but I hadn't really planned it immediately," he admits.
"Its hard work doing everything on your own but Phil came in and persuaded me and it's nice to have somebody who can take control of the situation. He's just the man I need.
"I've gone through the same kind of problems myself so to give people a chance is important to me. I know where he's coming from."
The initial plan is for the restaurant, catering for about 25 people, to open at lunchtimes seven days a week with Phil there two days a week and ultimately, full time.
But the new, revitalized Phil also has long-term goals in mind and his sights are firmly fixed on several years down the line. "I want to move abroad eventually and would like to open my own place, preferably in
For now, he's very happy where he is, with what the immediate future holds and with his ongoing support from Dave and Mike.
"All I can do is carry on doing what I do, reading my GOALS book and set myself new tasks," he says.
"It's brilliant to have that on-going support, too. All I've got is praise for Shaw Trust and what it's doing. There's a lot of people who do need these sort of organisations but they need to make that step and look for it – like I did."
INVITATION
Ken Pickering and Phil Davies would be delighted to welcome your reporters and photographers at the George's Hotel - 3 Station Road
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NOTES TO EDITORS
1. For further details, please contact Marketing Communications Manager Helen Durnion on 07814749844 or PR Officer Becky Gammon on 07779 784901. Or you can email: crucialpr@shaw-trust.org.uk
2. Shaw Trust is a national charity, formed in 1982, which helps people with disability or disadvantage to find work and achieve independence. We do this not only by delivering government programmes, but also through our own self-funded initiatives, and by campaigning to change attitudes at all levels. Across the
