SAM didn't get on with his boss. And then one day, when they were having an argument, something inside him snapped.

"I started to see images and hear things," he said. "I saw images of me hurting him very badly, and the voices were telling me to hurt him."

The 19-year old quickly realised that something was wrong with him, and he was right: he was having his first psychotic episode. But with the help of a team of mental health experts, he has been able to get his old self back.

He had been leading up to a crash for some time. "I had been paranoid for quite a while," he said. "It got so bad that as I was walking along a street I would be looking at the roofs of buildings, looking for snipers on top of them, who I thought were going to shoot me."

After hearing the voices and seeing the images, Sam went home and told his mum what had happened. She booked him an appointment with a doctor, who then referred him to a psychiatrist.

"They suspected I had depression," said Sam. "But the psychiatrist told me that I had psychotic symptoms, which were leading to depression.

"When he told me about the psychosis I wasn't as upset as you'd think. I was just pleased that I finally knew what was wrong with me."

Sam was diagnosed in March last year, and he's had an up and down year or so. But with the help of Cameo, an NHS service which helps young people experiencing psychosis for the first time, he is once again living a happy, normal life.

"I have been on a couple of different kinds of drugs, and some of them have made me worse," said Sam. "But the one I am on at the moment has been OK."

He still has "blips" – short recurrences of psychosis – but he has been working with the Cameo team, based in Thorpe Road, since the service started last September.

The team has helped him to turn his life around. Before, he struggled to work, now, with their help, he is claiming the benefits he is entitled to.

His condition meant he had to leave school, and lose contact with his mates. With Cameo's help he has signed up to study for A-levels at college from September.

"I have started to go out more again, and make new friends," he said. "And so I don't feel so alone. I feel as though I am a normal person now, but one who has an illness that can be treated.

"Having a mental illness doesn't mean it has to affect the whole of the rest of my life, it's just something I have to deal with sometimes."

Cameo has also worked with him so that he recognises when he is headed for a psychotic episode, and so when he feels one coming on he knows what's wrong, and seeks help.

"A significant proportion of people who have a psychotic episode will never have another," said Cameo team leader Kathy Lawrence.