Prader-Willi syndrome Prader-Willi syndrome support transforms Charlotte’s life
Charlotte is a person we support at Mason House, one of our specialist Prader-Willi syndrome residential care homes in Nottingham.
Using a person-centred approach, our team are empowering people like Charlotte to live as independently as they choose!
Charlotte has Prader-Willi syndrome and type-2 diabetes. These conditions have heavily impacted her life. She struggles with self-confidence and her diet has been a challenge. It controls how she lives her life every single day.
But thanks to the help of her specialist Prader-Willi syndrome support team at Mason House, Charlotte is achieving her goal of improving her confidence, while eating a healthier diet and increasing exercise.
Improving Charlotte’s relationship with food
When Charlotte began her journey with us in mid-2023, she had some challenges to overcome with her diet.
A key symptom of Prader-Willi syndrome is increased appetite. This means many people with the condition can struggle to feel full – resulting in overeating. This was a challenge Charlotte had when she joined us.
Charlotte’s support team created a person-centred support plan that enabled her to approach food with more confidence, ensuring both her health and diabetes were managed well.
Setting a weekly food menu ensures Charlotte eats a healthy number of calories to assist her goal of losing weight. The plan incorporates a wide range of healthy food options but still allows Charlotte to enjoy her favourite treats in moderation.
Her new balanced diet has seen Charlotte thrive. Her support team weigh her consistently and she’s now managing her weight and feeling amazing! Her team also empower her confidence with food by letting her know what’s on the menu in advance.
Discovering Charlotte’s passions
When Charlotte joined us, her team wanted to identify her passions and make sure she could incorporate these into her daily routine.
Charlotte is a big animal lover, so we include quality time with her two pet rabbits in her routine. She loves seeing them and gets stuck in with cleaning their cages. When caring for her pets, her passion shines! She also gets excited watching them play with all their toys and running through the tunnels.
After learning about this passion, Charlotte’s team organised for her to go on a four-day trip to Longleat Safari. This was a dream come true for Charlotte. She saw lots of different animals up close and spending time in a different environment helped her confidence.
Another big passion for Charlotte is arts and crafts! Charlotte’s support team have developed a routine of activities that encourage her to get creative. She’s really took to diamond art – creating lots of glitzy pictures!
Overcoming challenges with Prader-Willi syndrome support
When Charlotte arrived at Mason House her struggles with self-confidence meant she’d often refuse support from her team. Having low self-esteem, she was insecure and often thought others focused on her disability and differences.
Charlotte’s support team have worked hard to build her trust, which is key to improving her self-esteem. The activity plans and food menus incorporated help Charlotte feel comfortable, giving her advanced knowledge of what is planned for each day.
Charlotte is now thriving! Living at Mason House has transformed Charlotte’s world. She’s settled in fantastically and has adapted to living further away from her parents. To help bridge the gap with her family, Charlotte’s Prader-Willi syndrome support team set up video calls so she can let her parents know how she’s getting on.
Getting out into the community
As well as her home-based activities and interests, Charlotte is also finding lots of new passions out in the community.
When she first joined Mason House, she struggled with walking, which impacted how active she could be. Charlotte’s progression has been amazing. Her weight loss has meant she’s now more mobile and active, so she can easily get out and about in the local area – and beyond!
Her support team take her out into the community where she enjoys going to the gym, swimming, and visiting the local bingo club.
Bingo is something Charlotte loved doing at home, so finding a club for her close by has put a big smile on her face.
Charlotte also enjoys going into the town centre with her support team. She visits charity shops, goes to the cinema and often pops into the local pet shop to buy something for her rabbits.
She’s so eager to get out and it is doing wonders for her confidence and emotional wellbeing. Charlotte now has a mobility scooter so when she’s feeling tired she can still enjoy what the local area has to offer!
Future goals
Charlotte isn’t standing still and has many more goals she wants to achieve. Her future goals focus on developing her self-confidence even more and building meaningful relationships with others.
Charlotte has transformed her weight incredibly during her time at Mason House. Moving forward, her support team will help her to achieve a weight she’s comfortable maintaining.
With her keen sense of adventure, another goal of Charlotte’s is to go on holiday with a friend she’s made from Esmer House – one of our other specialist Prader-Willi syndrome residential care homes. It’s important to Charlotte to build relationships with other residents.
The Mason House team are keen to increase group activities in the future, so Charlotte and her housemates can interact with each other in a fun way!
Find specialist Prader-Willi syndrome support near you!
To find out more about our specialist Prader-Willi syndrome support and how we can help you, a client, or a loved one, fill out our quick form and a member of the team will get back to you.
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