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You can tell that Gavin McCabe is comfortable working at Battersea Park garden in South London for the charity Thrive. He knows about plants and fits in to the calm and purposeful dynamic of the place. This primarily means fitting in with people, and the ease with which he does so is significant for a man who has spent much of his adult life in what he calls a chaotic state of withdrawal.

Mr McCabe, who is 46, was doing a PhD in biochemistry when he had a nervous breakdown in 1986. Schizophrenia was diagnosed a few months later and his hopes of a career in scientific research fell apart as he found himself in a psychiatric hospital.

“In my case it was a problem with thinking,” he says. “I had an inability to understand my environment or to communicate with people. Confusion was one of my problems. It’s difficult for people to understand. A lot of it is about losing the ability to relate to people. Most people take it for granted. It’s an automatic thing that they know what things mean, like a clock, or how to speak with people, but you can lose all these very important skills. You do feel quite isolated. Schizophrenia stops you functioning.”

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In 2001 his psychiatric nurse referred him to the Battersea garden run by Thrive, which supports disabled people through gardening and is one of the charities being supported by this year’s Times Christmas appeal. The introduction proved to be a turning point: Mr McCabe learnt about horticulture and, slowly, he was given responsibility, passing on information to fellow gardeners and volunteers and showing visitors around the site. Today he is no longer a client of Thrive, though he still does some voluntary work for it, and he has returned to the research lab – he spends three days a week as a volunteer at King’s College, London, where he is working on an emulsion to help the delivery of oil-based drugs.

When I ask him how gardening has helped him his answer is: “How long have you got?”

He goes on: “My psychiatric nurse thought gardening would be good for me because there’s something about connecting with the earth and the environment and the seasons. I think gardening works on many levels. There is the idea of experiencing the seasons and accepting change as a natural progression rather than it being something to fear, or feeling it’s something you can’t control.

“It builds up your ability to function again – your physical stamina, the way you relate and can work in a team, your understanding of your environment. I’ve worked with horticultural therapists and, over the past two years, we’ve identified that it would help me to build up my confidence and social skills. To do that I’ve been asked to demonstrate some horticultural skills to other clients, mostly taking cuttings.

“It’s cognitive, too – it involves memory and trying out different things. And the results are always tangible. You get the reward of a nice display of colour and I got 7lb of broad-beans from a small area, so that was satisfying.

“A garden is a sheltered environment and it builds up your general ability and general competence. Not everyone who comes here is going to want to go into work. For some it just keeps them fit and mobile and in touch with people. For me it’s been a basis for developing work skills and it’s helped to put my life back together.”

Thrive’s horticultural therapists worked out a programme of tasks that gently prepared Mr McCabe for an independent life. By becoming involved in a related project at the Chelsea Physic garden, just across the river, he gained experience of teamwork, sharing knowledge and the discipline of regular attendance and timekeeping.

On the day I meet him he is at ease as he oversees a group of corporate volunteers engaged in team-building. For Mr McCabe this involves having to create instant professional relationships with people he has not met before, something that he could not have done a couple of years ago. It is a crisp, sunny day and he is enjoying himself.

Mr McCabe’s doctors associate his progress with his involvement with Thrive. “There’s no way around the fact that, for me, recovery has been a slow process,” he says. “I’m feeling good, I’m feeling confident about the future and my care team are supportive of my plans to become more self-reliant.”

He now leads a normal life, he has friends, he plays the violin for the Portobello Orchestra and his housing officer is keen for him to move out of his supported accommodation. “I’m well enough to manage a tenancy,” he says. “I just hope it has a garden.”

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