19-year-Old H came to Phoenix Independence via a referral from adult social care services. She was a young lady that had been through incredibly traumatic experiences at the hands of her Birth and stepparents at a young age, she was victim to Physical, sexual and emotional abuse.
H eventually was taken into the care of the local authority aged 10 and came to us following several unsuccessful placements in both residential and semi supported accommodation. H, due to her ACE’s, required High Needs support to help stabilise her mental health, and it was considered that Phoenix would be able to meet her needs with additional 1-1 daily support sessions. H was very mistrusting of professionals, and due to the frequency of previous placement breakdowns, considered that she wouldn’t be with us for long anyway…so why bother trying! H could never be previously trusted with her own medication due to risks of overdose, and we concentrated our efforts on improving this situation for her so that we could help promote her independence.
We worked alongside the mental health team to pick apart the reasons for the medication risks and looked for ways to reduce that risk, improve her confidence etc. H has now got to the stage where she has a personal daily dosset box that holds her medication, she feels a sense of independence and in her words for the first time feels that she has control over something in her life and is trusted. This seemingly small support need being met by our team has improved regular and controlled taking of medication, thus improving her overall mental health.
H has now managed to gain enough strength to consider accepting support from the police to log a historic sexual abuse complaint which has traumatised her for years and impacted upon her decision making. H has now settled into two volunteer roles that she has committed to locally and is hoping that she will learn enough skills within these roles to gain paid employment in the future when she is ready.
H is currently planning and looking forward to moving into independent accommodation locally in the near future with support from our settlement visits that we can offer for certain cases.
