Sam was referred to us through the local authority as she was fleeing domestic violence. Sam was estranged from her immediate family who she had very a volatile relationship with.
Sam’s children were in special guardianship with her uncle and was allowed six supervised contact visits a year. As a result of this estrangement, Sam’s mental health was often up and down and on many occasions, Sam was hospitalised for suicide attempts and self-harm.
Sam’s first goal was to work on her mental health as she hoped to be considered for increased supervised contact visits with her children. Longer term, she wanted them back in her care. We registered Sam with her local GP and was referred to a mental health clinic.
Sam engaged really well with the service but due to multiple staff changes and the lack of consistency, she became frustrated having to re-live her trauma with every new worker. As a result of this, her engagement declined.
There was then a dip in her mental health so we considered reengaging with the service of which Sam agreed. We arranged an appointment with a new worker. We went to the appointments together and Sam now actively engages attending every appointment. We also asked for a medication review as she hasn’t managed to find a medication which works for her.
We then talked about meaningful use of time and what Sam might be interested in. Through the support Sam was receiving for her mental health, she began putting coping mechanisms into practice which supported Sam around her taking ownership for her own mental wellbeing. She also undertook various mental health courses at the Recovery College Online enabling her to make positive life changes around her own mental health.
Other things we worked on were around managing a tenancy. Through grants and donations, we were able to buy some little furnishings to make it homelier. Sam was also doing really well at keeping her home clean and tidy and would tell us when visiting her in her home what she had been up to, like hoovering, dusting, cleaning her bathroom etc. She was really proud of her home and helped her ‘switch off’ when cleaning. We bought a calendar and together went through it adding on dates of when bills / utilities need to be paid as well as estimations for food shops and how much these may cost. This helped Sam with her budgeting as she was able to visually see future outgoings in order to help her plan.
Things were going well for Sam until there was a relationship breakdown with her uncle who stopped access to Sam seeing her children. As a result of this, Sam has started the process of a Special Guardianship Court Order with the support from a solicitor. This is still ongoing.
This however hasn’t stopped Sam, who is now planning for her future. She is currently working on her application to enroll onto an access course with a vision to then go to university to become a social worker. With this in mind, we are going to attend an open event at a local college to hear more about the access course. Sam has made excellent progress so far, engages really well with Moving On and we hope she achieves her future ambitions.