Will plans to cure his fear of public places by being dropped off alone in a foreign country

There was no one incident, no obvious trauma, no particular stress that he can identify to explain the agoraphobia, which has seen him change from being a gregarious musician to someone who was not only trapped in his own home but who also couldn't even access certain rooms within it.

But he has come up with a way cure it – be dropped off in a foreign country on his own, and work his way across it.

This 'flooding' plan is an extreme approach, but suffering from his third episode of agoraphobia, which has transformed his life and left him unable to do numerous things that he once took for granted, Will wants to take decisive action.

Will used to work in the music industry, as a musician, a manager and a tour manager, and also had his own arts programme for BBC Sheffield.

Now he cannot work, nor can he receive benefits. This also means that he cannot get the therapy that he needs to help recover from his agoraphobia; having had 12 sessions through the NHS, he would have to fund further treatment himself, which he simply cannot afford.

Will first experienced agoraphobia in his late 20s.

Agoraphobia is a fear of being in situations where escape might be difficult or where help wouldn't be available if things went wrong. It is often connected to being in crowded places, rather than open spaces.

Sufferers can experience panic attacks and often change their behaviour to avoid stressful situations.

According to the NHS, agoraphobia usually develops as a complication of panic disorder, an anxiety disorder involving panic attacks and moments of intense fear. It can arise by associating panic attacks with the places or situations where they occurred and then avoiding them, although a minority of people with agoraphobia have no history of panic attacks. In these cases, their fear may be related to issues like a fear of crime, terrorism, illness, or being in an accident.

Will noticed that when he was walking anywhere he started to have to take a specific route, which became increasingly restrictive, to the point where he could no longer step outside, as he didn't feel safe.

Will in his favourite Portswood cafe

Luckily, although he was living alone at the time, he had a close group of friends, who visited and shopped for him for the year that he was trapped indoors by his own anxiety.

That episode ended when he woke up one day and realised that he could leave the house, but the panic disorder returned around two years later, following the same pattern.

"I was living in Sheffield at the time, which I had so much love for, but I just couldn't leave the house," says Will, who now lives in Portswood, Southampton.

"I don't have any sense of what's behind it. Even with therapy, I haven't got to any idea why.

"I used to so outgoing and confident, and that just went.

"You can get quite maudlin, thinking about how you were and how you are."

Will on a night out before his most recent attack of agoraphobia

Will's third episode of agoraphobia began around seven years ago.

By this point he was living in Southampton with his partner.

"This time it was much more sudden," he says.

"I left the house and went part of the way down the street when suddenly I thought 'I can't do this'. I'd got to the corner and I had to crawl my way along, clinging to the walls, to get back home."

Will was then unable to leave his house for three years.

But this time, his anxiety symptoms were more severe. A whole room became out of bounds, where he kept his art materials, meaning he was unable to paint.

Various, often temporary, phobias flared up. He couldn't use one of the showers, feeling disgusted by the mould. He couldn't scrape the old cereal out of his breakfast bowl, despite finding the growing smell of sour milk offensive.

He wasn't, and still isn't, sure quite what the phobias were attached to. With the spare room, was it the room itself, something in it, or the door handle that was inducing such fear and panic?

Why would a particular chore or space be a problem one day, when it had been fine the previous one?

"Agoraphobia writes its own rules," says Will.

"I never knew from one day to the next what would become an 'impossible task'. Sometimes that phobia would go on for a couple of days, sometimes for a couple of months."

At times, Will has found himself struggling to get out of bed and felt suicidal.

Luckily, his partner of 20 years has been an incredible support.

Will at home

"He's been wonderful," he says with feeling.

"He takes it all in his stride. He's very calm and as supportive as you can get. He picked up the slack. He knew that if I could do these things I would."

During his time of confinement, Will started making a comic strip, which he put online, where it was spotted by someone who was putting together a graphic novel and invited Will to be involved. Will found himself coordinating writers and artists from across the globe in an exciting project, but it didn't help him to step out into the world himself.

That has come slowly, and been hard work. It started with short, often abruptly ended, trips with his partner.

Now he can leave his home, but as if he's on some sort of invisible extendable lead, the area he can reach is limited to around half a mile from his own home.

He can go to the cafes and shops of Portswood, but the city centre is too far.

His sphere is, however, expanding slowly. He used to have to take a Valium to visit his doctor, whose surgery is located halfway along Portswood high street; now he can get there unaided.

And he spends part of most days in a cafe near his house, although if he's there beyond midday, he begins to feel very uncomfortable.

He was also able to complete an MA in creative writing, travelling to Portsmouth by train once a week. He and his partner had to take the trip together a number of times, before Will was able to make part, and then all of the journey himself, but it was emotionally draining.

"The stress of getting there would wipe me out for a few days, then I'd have a few days to do the work before I was back again."

A selfie Will took on his first solo train trip to Portsmouth

Despite the stress, Will, a published poet, achieved a distinction for his MA and went on to study for a PhD in creative writing, with a focus on landscape poetry.

One of the books he pitched as part of his PhD proposal was a poetic travelogue of Norway, starting in Kirkenes on the Russian border and reaching Kristiansand on the southernmost tip of the country, taking in as many towns as possible.

The idea is for his partner to travel with him to Kirkens and to leave him there, with Will making the rest of the trip on his own.

This 'flooding' approach sounds extreme, but Will feels extreme measures are specifically what is needed to tackle his agoraphobia head on, and the improvements he has seen so far have just been too slow.

Will has been fascinated by Nordic culture since he was a teenager, and the project perfectly combines his interests with his need to take action to overcome his phobia.

"I chose my PhD subject to get me out of the house.

"I'm so fed up, I need to do something positive. I can sit or my backside, or do something about it. As well as being a subject I wanted to explore, I wanted it to have a positive effect on how I was feeling.

"Being stuck in the middle of Norway seems like a pretty good way of flooding – it's a bit of a kill or cure approach!" says Will, adding that he has taken advice from his doctor on the plan.

Unfortunately, some funding streams that Will had thought were secure, which were going to allow him to make the trip, have fallen through, so he is now crowdfunding in a bid to make the trip, with contributors of £15 or more receiving a copy of the book when it is published.

If he doesn't manage to raise enough money to make the whole trip, which he's also trying to do by selling lots of his possessions, he will make it in sections, again being left alone, which he hopes will be as effective, both in terms of his poetry and overcoming his agoraphobia.

This plan B is for his partner to join him on his first trip and for Will to make subsequent journeys on his own.

"In theory, after the first trip, I will then feel comfortable being dropped off at the airport and travelling alone, once I get the hang of it," he says.

"Having travelled the world previously, it's a strange feeling having to relearn basic behaviours, which have become alien to me.

"It's the actual stuff of nightmares, but I'm determined to do this PhD, and that means doing this," he adds.

Will hopes that the the experience will make day-to-day life in Southampton feel much more manageable.

"If I can navigate a country on my own that is unfamiliar and where I don't speak much of the language, hopefully any feelings of agoraphobia that I have in this country will be kicked into touch.

"I don't think the agoraphobia will ever totally go away, but I hope I'll be able to manage it a lot better."

One of the things that Will desperately hopes will change is that he will be able to go to gigs. He used to go around three times a week. The last one he went to was four years ago, and that was the first in years.

"I had to go because it was Kate Bush" he says.

"My partner had instruction that if I started kicking and screaming, he was to just push me in there! It was unpleasant and hot, and then she started, and it was perfect. Since then, I've bought tickets for gigs a number of times but then just not been able to go.

"I'd like to be able to socialise again. I used to like going to the pub with friends, and I miss things like that a lot.

"It's difficult to plan anything, because I never know how I'm going to feel," he adds.

"I can be looking forward to something, then shut down and not be able to do it.

"It's exhausting and boring. There are the days when the weight of what you imagine happening is too much, and you stay in bed.

"I'm very aware that I'm missing out on all these experiences and I'm just sitting at home."

Will celebrating his 40th birthday, before his most recent attack of agoraphobia

For Will, the silver lining to his agoraphobia is the community he has found in Portswood, since being able to venture out into it.

He tries to get out every day, to his favourite cafe, where he has made friends with other regulars.

"Portswood is very friendly. The people here are fantastic," he says.

"We always have a laugh. This is my social life now."

But Will is determined to move beyond the small area of a Southampton district that is his current stomping ground – and he hopes that Norway holds the key.

"I'm cautiously confident that I'll be able to do it" he says of his planned trip.

"I've pictured myself dead in a ditch in Norway, but it's not stopping me!"

For more information, visit https://www.gofundme.com/norwegian-dreaming-poetic-travelogue