MARK Houghton is measured, articulate and intelligent. He works full-time at a supermarket in Christchurch, has a grown-up daughter and devotes his spare time to helping some of the most vulnerable people in the community – something he is passionate about.

Most Tuesdays you will find him at Bailey’s Cafe on Barrack Road listening intently to the problems of those who desperately need a friendly ear.

However, behind those kind eyes is a man who has been tortured by severe mental illness for a quarter of a century – and he does not mince his words when describing the anguish it can cause.

Armed with a strength that can only come with firsthand experience, he is attempting to kill the misconceptions around one of medicine’s last taboos and share the facts as they are rather than how they have often been muddied by clumsy media interpretations.

Mark was 23, living in London and making his way in the world as a junior designer and attending night school when his illness first displayed its most disturbing of symptoms.

“I was alone in my flat in Balham,” he recalls. “And then I could hear it – this whispering started inside my head.”

Psychosis followed. Mark became a prisoner of his own brain. He recounts being treated “like a leper” before being sectioned and enduring nights listening to fellow patients screaming at his mental hospital.

Mark is now 47. He receives an injection every month to keep his symptoms at bay and is co-lead of Positive Spirit – a group which supports those struggling with psychosis, anxiety or paranoia.

Founded by local man Nigel Peirce, Mark says at least one person has turned up every week for the last two years in search of support.

“My experiences have given me the tools to help,” says Mark.

Those seeking support can drop into Bailey’s Cafe between 10.30am and noon every Tuesday.