A has worked previously as a chef however due to circumstances has not worked for the last 3 years. A is a keen participant for Communities for Work (C4W), he is currently sofa surfing with his friends and so has no stability in his life. A has Asperger’s (diagnosed) and dyslexia and ADD (undiagnosed). A also has severe anxiety, especially with new situations and meeting new people. A was referred through his probation officer to try and help A take steps to move forward. A has received 1 to 1 support and mentoring to help with his main barriers of stability and confidence. He has engaged with The Wallich and Citizens Advice Denbighshire that has enabled him to sort his benefits and also address his homelessness. Mentoring support will continue to get A closer to his goal of working as a chef again.
A’s referral was received from his probation officer (Annalise) after A had been on probation for an offence he had committed. A was seeing Annalise twice a month and would not tell Annalise where he was staying so he didn’t not lose some of her support.
A previous Supporting People application was submitted in November 2017 however A did not engage and the homelessness team’s last attempt at contacting him was in January 2018. He has had difficulty sorting out his ESA after it was stopped and also A has been trying to sort out his PIP so that did not stop. Speaking to Annalise it was clear that A understood what he needed to do to sort out his housing and benefits, however his anxiety was hindering either of these progressing. A was able to say that he had been looking for housing and visiting services however there was always a reason as to why they couldn’t help him. With his anxiety and Asperger’s A found it hard to engage and take initiative to help him move forward.
We initially organised for Annalise to organise a meeting with ourselves the next time she saw A as he wouldn’t answer phone calls he didn’t know. A attended on the initial appointment and was extremely anxious. In the appointment A was very nervous and I could see he was getting agitated in the meeting. But we took our time and I didn’t push him too far within the first meeting,we spoke about his background and his circumstances allowing A time to speak and gain confidence to talk.
After our initial meetings it was clear stability and confidence was the main barriers for A to move forward. A required intensive support and mentoring to help with his housing and benefits as identified through the Work Star assessment.
A was encouraged to engage with Citizens Advice for help and support to address his issues with PIP and ESA.
Training and support to gain confidence: At first A was unsure about doing anything as he had no confidence, however through mentoring A opened up to training in order to build up his confidence to go back to work in the future.
Mentoring support to enable A to engage with projects that can help and support with his housing: A referral had already been submitted on A’s behalf to supporting people however he did not engage. A said no-one had tried to call him. I asked his permission to send in a new referral and also
got support from Annalise to do so. Over the next few weeks I reiterated the importance of answering calls and if he did not want to answer them to bring the numbers to our meeting and I would call back on his be-half so we didn’t miss them again. However after a few weeks I chased supporting people and A’s referral had been misplaced and not sent to the correct project. I kept chasing this until A told me he had had contact from the Wallich and that he had attended a meeting with them. Since then A has attended all the Wallich meetings and also had meetings with the council housing department.
The most significant achievement for A is his confidence, he attends every meeting on time and is comfortable talking to me. He still gets anxious when meeting new people but will push himself to engage with new projects and people who can help support him to move forward.
This case study reiterates the abilities of C4W to engage and mentor young people who otherwise might miss the support and guidance they can benefit from. It shows inter agency working and sharing of support and knowledge to get the best outcome for the young person. The mentor has assisted A in attending meetings with Citizens Advice, assisted in making supported people referrals and chasing up the referral until it gets to a project that can help and not lost within the system. Offering A support and guidance when meeting new people and offering to attend the Wallich alongside him, however A decided he was ok to meet the Wallich on his own.
We have got to the point within our sessions that A is deciding for himself what he would like to do next. We are looking into training courses and maybe the possibility of some volunteer work. As his stability of a home is in the process of being resolved and his benefits are all in line, he feels it is the next step for him.
I terms of what the mentor has learned: I have come into contact with a wide variety of people and services that I would not otherwise come into contact with. I have the understanding that no young person is the same and each one has their own individual needs and that there are services out there especially tailored to them. It has been a fantastic learning experience as a mentor, but also A is now at the point to move forward a step. This is a great achievement for A and working with him I can see how he has changed and developed in a short few months. A’s next goal is to attend a Food Hygiene course and a Health and Safety course in Rhyl. So that will be our next confidence builder to work towards, whilst still supporting him through the transition from homelessness to a home.