Janine noticed that a few things weren't quite right with Roger. Initially, she put it down to Roger getting over a dose of 'flu: he had taken some sick leave, and been late to work a couple of times after that. But lately he had made some mistakes with accounts – he hadn't followed up with the paper work and there had been customer complaints Janine had to deal with. One of the other sales staff had complained that Roger was inefficient and turned up late to meetings. He seemed vague and distracted and had become more withdrawn than in his first few months at the company.

Janine Myers was a sales manager in a large insurance company. She was responsible for staff selling new domestic insurance policies. Roger Blackburn, 34, had joined the company four months ago and was in Janine's sales team. He had made a good start, and seemed to be keen to do well.

At the same time, Nick, another one of the sales team, was also worried about his workmate. Roger had got very drunk last week after work, not just his usual few beers. Then he had started getting into some really heavy stuff – how people would be better off without him and that he couldn't see what the point of it all was anymore.

A week later, Roger had got drunk again, and didn't care about driving home way over the limit. Nick knew that something was wrong, but didn't know what to do about it. Nick talked to a couple of his other mates at work, asking them if they were aware of anything wrong with Roger: no-one had much idea about any problems he was having.

After Roger turned up to work looking like he hadn't slept all night, Nick felt he had to act. He decided to talk to Janine, because he had never met Roger's wife or family. Nick didn't want to get Roger into trouble with his boss, but couldn't think of anyone else who might be able to do something.

Roger felt panicky when called into Janine's office. He hadn't really had the 'flu last month, but just hadn't been able to face work for a whole week. Since then he felt tired all the time but couldn't get to sleep at night. This had happened before at his last job, and he had ended up getting the sack. The thought of losing his job again was terrifying. How would he explain that to his wife and parents? Roger was having trouble concentrating, felt anxious for no reason a lot of the time and often avoided talking to others – it was just too much effort. It was easier to have a few drinks and forget about everything.

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