A FORMER army captain has returned to Redditch to set up a therapy business which he hopes will help people with a range of physical or mental health issues, including obesity, shyness or smoking.

Peter Tapsell, 56, spent 37 years in the army, many of them in the Royal Corps of Signals, but after leaving and entering the commercial world and going through a divorce, he suffered deep depression.

He also suffered problems with alcohol.

Mr Tapsell, who spent some of his childhood in the town and has family here, has drawn on his own experiences and learnt the techniques of Neuro Linguistic Programming, which uses a combination of counselling and hypnotism to get to the root of problems.

The technique claims to use the language of the mind to achieve a wide range of desired results.

Mr Tapsell, who has also written a book on the technique, said: "I was going through a divorce and suffered depression but pulled myself through by changing the way I think, which is what I try to impress on people - realign the unconscious mind with the conscious mind.

"It could help with a range of issues, including obesity and smoking which are currently in the news, but also stress or low self esteem."