‘S’ was referred into Working Denbighshire by his Work Coach at the local Job Centre. He was motivated to find work following his recent employment at McDonalds and was eager to get started. S has got Autism so he was restricted as to the type of work he could complete and by its location too. Unfortunately, whilst he was working with the project the Covid19 pandemic hit the UK, due to S condition he became very scared of the outside world which meant S was unable to leave the house, so we have been working on other aspects to help get him work ready for when he feels safe and able to start looking for employment again.
S was diagnosed with ASD and struggles with group situations, going to new places or meeting new people. He has previously worked at McDonalds and really enjoyed the work however due to a miscommunication between him and the management team, he left the job as he did not feel comfortable working there anymore. S lives at home with his family, his siblings also have ASD which can mean that they can clash at times, which made the home environment difficult for him.
S was unsure of our service and how we could support him, at his first appointment I explained our support and asked him what he would like to do, to which S explained about his employment experience, however emphasised he would like to work as locally as possible so he is able to walk to work and not rely on his Mum for travel. S advised that he likes routine and needs to know when and how things are happening so he can understand the plan and there are no surprises which is a familiar trait with people who are Autistic. In order to better understand the type of support S may need from me, I also had a joint conversation with S and his Mum to see if he was getting any other support for his Autism as it would likely compliment his progress on the project very well. S and his family had not received much support in the past for their diagnosis, so I suggested contacting the Integrated Autism Service (IAS) who could provide adult autism diagnosis assessment, as well as support and advice for autistic individuals and their carers, families and professionals. I explained how they could help and that they can work with S to integrate into the work place and also set up coping methods, upon hearing this they immediately wanted to set up a meeting to find out more.
I organised the IAS to join our next meeting, both S and his Mum were excited by the possibility of the support especially for when S would start work. This partnership would help with the communication between S and his prospective employers, which is where his job broke down last time.
Following this, I assisted S to build on his C.V and created a plan with IAS for when he secures employment to ensure his new work place understand his needs better and could adjust to meet them. However, Covid19 then started.
The pandemic caused S to feel overwhelmed with the outside world and he has not left the house in nearly a year due this crippling fear. I have been continuing support S and trying to find online courses that he finds interesting and keep him occupied. Unfortunately, although the courses available were flexible online courses, S felt he would not benefit from starting them during the pandemic in case he forgot what he had learnt by the time he is able to start work. It took some persuading over several months, however he eventually understood that we were able to continue with various online courses to keep his training fresh and up to date, and this way his mind would be kept occupied and he would be ready to jump straight into employment when the opportunity presents itself.
This has meant that over the past year, S has not secured employment in the timeframe he had hoped he would. However, the most important thing is that he has kept himself safe during Covid19 and also developed new coping mechanisms to cope with the extreme changes the past year has brought. We will continue to move forward and hopefully we will be looking into the prospect of work in the near future.
Working with other services is paramount to ensuring that each participant gets the most support possible. Working closely with IAS meant the S felt more confident about going back into work due to the in-work support they could continue to offer. However as the past year has proven, you never know how things can change so it is important to adapt to every situation that can arise. Not only to support your participants but to ensure they are coping with these huge changes and putting new pans in place that work.