A year later the 36-year-old mother from Paisley runs a successful childcare business.

As a report highlighted the problems of social deprivation in the Glasgow area, she spoke to the BBC News Website about how she turned her life around.

Fiona Campbell came across Working Links by chance

A year ago, I was suffering from depression, anxiety, diabetes, multiple allergies and I'm dyslexic.

So I had quite a few health problems and despite a having a background in childcare, I found a lot of barriers to getting back into work.

Employers took the view that all these problems would affect my attendance, so I thought there was no hope of me getting a job.

I was stuck in the house and the more I sat there, the more I concentrated on my health issues and the worse they got. There wasn't anything for me to do - I had very little confidence.

I was also finding it difficult to find childcare for my own son, Lewis, who's now aged five.

'Huge demand'

In my son's school there had been an out-of-school care project, which unfortuately had to close due to a lack of funding. Four others in the area also closed for the same reason.

A lot of parents were unable to get back into employment or education because there wasn't affordable childcare in the area. So there was a huge demand for that type of service.

I heard about Working Links by chance. I was walking home from the hospital, saw a poster advertising the project in the window and walked in the door.

They were such a friendly, homely team - very welcoming. I found most agencies I had dealt with previously very negative, they said the childcare business was a pipe dream.

But Working Links just sat me down and listened.

Working Links is based in the east end of Glasgow

They put me in touch with other agencies that could help with funding and interviewing staff. I had knowledge of childcare - but businesswise I didn't know anything.

I was very lucky to be able to open my own service, assisted by support and contacts from Working Links and JobCentre Plus.

It wasn't a garden of roses, there were a lot of challenges along the way. We had to prove ourselves as a business and I had to prove myself as a person - that I was capable of doing this.

When there was a problem Working Links would listen and help me lay out my options. They didn't do the work for me but supported me to keep going with it.

We've been up and running for five months now, we've got ten staff and we've got a big waiting list so we're now looking to open a second service.

We've now got 47 families using our service. It's enabled them to go into further education and employment and to expand their abilities and careers. It's very rewarding in that way.