WHAT excellent news...a project which has been described as a lifeline for people with personality disorders has been saved.

The Haven Project has been battling for survival since its ten-year funding programme from the Department for Health came to an end.

Now the service has been revived after receiving a total of £384,000 from the Big Lottery fund and a further £72,000 from Essex County Council.

The project was in crisis after the North East Essex Clinical Commissioning Group said it could not fund it, saying it had an alternative strategy for caring for people with mental health problems.

On the face of it, the service could have been argued to cost a lot of money for relatively few patients.

But that assessment is too simplistic.

These are people who need support. Without it, they can fall into a crisis situation.

Self-harming, sometimes suicidal, without the support provided by the Haven Project, they could have frequently ended up in the accident and emergency department – or worse.

The cost of this, in pure pounds and pence, by far outweighs the cost of keeping the project going.

The human cost is incalculable.

Huge praise to the project for fighting on – and for the clients who have shown strength of character in supporting each other while the finances were resolved.