Mental health funding announced for steelworks town
BBCWhen steelworker Christopher Curtis realised he was losing what he thought might be a "job for life", his mental health "struggled a lot".
The 42-year-old, who has set up a new gardening business, said the past year had taught him "mental health is more important than anything".
Hundreds of workers have left the Port Talbot site since Tata Steel shut down the town's remaining blast furnace six months ago.
More than £3m has now been announced by the UK government's steel transition board to boost mental health support in the community.
Earlier this week, Tata Steel confirmed 300 jobs have been secured after new contracts were handed to local companies to help build the £1.25bn electric arc furnace.
But Mr Curtis said he worried for months about how his job loss at Tata would impact his family's future and his ability to pay the bills.
"I struggled a lot to be honest. I struggled mentally and I took a bit of time off work because I was so stressed with what was going on," he said.
He was helped by Tata Steel's former mental health and wellbeing officer Martyn Wagstaff, who "reassured [him] that everything was going to be good".
The support helped Mr Curtis through a difficult period and gave him the confidence to take on a new business full-time following his final day with Tata at the end of March.
"I started up my gardening and maintenance business and now I'm going to be doing the business full-time.
"I've learnt through all of this is that you can't do much without money but your mental health is more important than anything," Mr Curtis said.
Realising the need for greater mental health provision in his community, Martyn Wagstaff set up his own support service once his role as Tata Steel's mental health officer was cut in December 2024.
After sharing the story of his own mental health struggles, he said he had supported more than 100 employees who had opened up during a difficult period at the works.
"Having men and women in a room with each other and sharing their stories in front of each other is quite unusual in that type of environment. I still have quite a lot of guys from in there who still reach out now for a chat or a bit of advice," he said.
"A lot of the businesses I work closely with now also employ a lot of ex-Tata employees, so there's still that overhang there. But it's also the sports clubs in this area as well.
"Lots of members of sports clubs around here are still there working in Tata and there is still some of that uncertainty about what's happening around the restructure and their futures there."
Despite recent concerns over the future of British steel, Tata's plans to build an electric arc furnace in Port Talbot moved a step closer this week.
It confirmed new contracts with Bridgend-based companies Darlow Lloyd & Sons and Wernick Buildings, as well as Swansea-based Andrew Scott Ltd who will carry out work as the plant transitions to a greener way of steelmaking.
Since it first announced its restructure plans in September 2023, 1,800 employees have left the business and more than half of those have taken voluntary redundancy.
Thousands of contractors and supply chain jobs have also been affected by the closure of the blast furnaces.
The allocation of £3.27m for mental health support services is expected to be used to help steelworkers and their families who are struggling with debt, as well as offering additional support in local schools and to invest in suicide prevention training for council and union workers.
Secretary of State for Wales Jo Stevens said: "The past 18 months have been incredibly difficult for the steelworkers of Port Talbot, their families and for the wider community but we said we would back them in whatever ways were needed.
"We are helping people learn new skills but we also need to help protect people's mental health, because well-being is crucial to getting back into work and staying in work."