The area is one of 32 nationwide to receive a share of £33m in a bid to transform the help available to people suffering from mental health problems.

Over the next year that will mean training a whole team of new staff and laying on therapy clinics in local neighbourhood centres.

"This is the first time this has been done in Sheffield; I think it will have a very big impact," said Pam Stirling, director of Sheffield Health and Social Care Trust.

"So many people are going to their GP with anxiety or depression, this is a step change in access.

"This extra investment demonstrates the priority now placed on delivering high quality therapies to people who are living with anxiety and depression."

The idea is to make therapy more readily available and to reduce the stigma associated with mental health problems, including stress and depression.

A key strand of the initiative is to support people, helping them stay at work, or get back to work, as quickly as possible.

Recognition of mental health problems has grown substantially in recent years and remaining in work is seen as an important step towards recovery.

"We've known for a long time that one in four people at some time have depression or anxiety. This is a recognition that we can do something about it," said Ms Stirling.

"It means that when somebody goes to see their GP with problems around work, there will be a choice about what sort of help they get."

NHS Sheffield will receive a cash injection of around £750,000 over the next 12 months, with more in the following two years. The services will be contracted from the SHSC, which already provides mental health, learning disability and substance misuse care across the city.

New courses are being set up in partnership with Sheffield University and new staff from across Yorkshire will begin training in October – including 27 from Sheffield. By the end of the year they will be working alongside GPs, cutting waiting times and providing psychological therapy in the heart of the community.

Pilot schemes in Doncaster and London have produced impressive results. People living in the areas were more satisfied with the service offered, reported better health and more effective outcomes of therapy.

Sheffield was picked as one of the first areas to roll out the scheme because it already has a good reputation for psychological therapies.
To qualify for funding in excess of £1m, the new service will have to meet stringent targets governing the number of new staff trained, the number of people seen and the number returning to work.

Ms Stirling added: "At the end of three years our plan is that no-one will have to wait to get talking treatments through their GP and will be able to see their therapist close to home, or somewhere that suits them.

"Another major part of the new service is to help people early on, so that they can keep working, or get back to work if they have lost their job."