We recently caught up with some of the people accessing our Wellbeing Hub, delivered in partnership with the Greater Manchester Integrated Rehabilitation Service. Read below to find out what impact the hub is already having.
Background.
John was isolated in his room when we first met him as he was experiencing extreme PTSD symptoms. John was stuck in his room and feeling anxious and said he would experience panic attacks if he was outside due to fear of seeing people from his past life.
Support Needs Identified.
When John was referred to the Hub, he was keen to move properties and thought he may have a housing application open but wasn’t sure where it was up to.
John had a poor relationship with his Probation Officer as he couldn’t attend probation in person due to his PTSD. John felt that he needed help with liaising with probation as he wanted home visits due to not leaving his property for mental health reasons.
John became emotional at our first appointment with him as he spoke about the PTSD he’d experienced recently. John wasn’t in contact with his GP regularly and wanted to make a phone appointment to try and get some medical support for his mental health.
Support provided and challenges faced.
An obvious block in the support we could offer him was the fact that John couldn’t leave his property. We slowly began to set small goals such as John heading out into his garden once a day to at least get some fresh air and experience going outside.
Gradually we were able to build that up to the point whereby on our final appointment, John was late due to him collecting his own prescription from the chemist.
John wanted to move to a different part of Manchester but there were a few problems to navigate first. We set up a payment plan with the local housing association so that he could pay back a previous tenancy’s rent arears. We then located his housing association’s application form which he’d completed previously, and submitted that again as some of his information had changed.
For his mental health we helped to support him with arranging a phone GP appointment that led to John receiving therapy for his PTSD over the phone.
We were able to send a letter from his GP to his Probation Officer explaining about John’s PTSD and as to why he wouldn’t be able to attend probation but was happy to have home visits which were eventually set up.
Outcomes.
John was able to go back to court and apply for his probation order to be changed in order for him to have home visits. By the end of our support John was able to leave the house and visit people in the local area which was something that John wouldn’t even consider before.
John was planning on moving in with his girlfriend and attempting to make a fresh start to escape the painful memories that he had experienced.