Learning disabilities Katie joins the Voyage Care family!
Katie is a person we support at one of our supported living services. When she joined us in 2022, she was moving out of her parents’ home and was excited to start developing her independence.
Her aspirations when joining Voyage Care, centred around taking responsibility for her own home and developing her social skills. With a person-centred approach to care, Katie’s support team were able to tailor her support to meet her needs and help her accomplish these goals!
Katie moves in
Katie lived at home with her parents where they supported her with daily tasks like cooking and cleaning. She was keen to become more independent but knew she needed additional support to take on new responsibilities.
A supported living service would provide Katie with the opportunity to develop her independence. She needed a provider that would meet her individual support needs and help her achieve this goal.
Katie was introduced to Voyage Care. As a person with autism, our specialist team understood how moving home, and the emotions involved in this change, could impact her. Routines are typically important to autistic people, and they may find changes difficult to navigate.
To ensure Katie was as comfortable as possible with her decision, they frequently invited her to visit her new home before she moved in. This helped her feel less nervous and gave her the opportunity to get to know her new support team and housemates ahead of the big move.
Supporting her transition
The team ensured the transition happened slowly, gradually accommodating longer home visits, outings with some of her new friends and regular check ins with her support network.
Once Katie moved into her new home, her team continued to support her transition. They understood how hard it was for her to leave her childhood home and the worry that surrounded this. Katie’s team openly communicated with her to ensure she shared how she felt. They also helped her organise her new bedroom, so it was exactly how she wanted it! This helped her to feel more settled in her new home.
A budding chef
When she joined her new household, Katie told her support team she wanted to establish a daily routine and take responsibility for her household tasks and cooking her own meals.
As part of this, Katie was passionate about gaining more confidence in the kitchen so she could plan and prepare her own meals. Her team supported her to achieve this goal by writing meal plans, helping Katie write shopping lists, and creating easy-to-follow recipes with her.
They also assisted her with grocery shopping, which helped her build confidence when going out into the community. Katie’s now much more confident in the kitchen and often cooks meals for her housemates! In fact, she’s recently hired a cooking instructor to visit her at home and help her to develop her skills even further!
Taking a trip
When Katie first joined us, she needed additional support with her social skills. Her support team identified that she would benefit from using verbal prompts to comfortably interact with her housemates.
Katie’s support team also encouraged her to do things out in the community. Having the dedicated support of her team provides reassurance and empowers her to be more confident. Katie now frequently goes out independently, socialising with friends and accessing the local community.
This confidence has sparked Katie’s adventurous side and she’s recently been on her first independent holiday! Her team supported her to book a trip through Breakaway, a service that specialises in breaks for autistic people and people with additional needs. On this holiday, she had the opportunity to make new friends and see parts of the world she had never seen before – something she only dreamed about before our dedicated support. She had a fantastic time and can’t wait for her next trip!
Looking to the future
Since joining Voyage Care, Katie’s life has changed a lot. With the support of her team, she’s achieved her goal of learning daily living skills and becoming a more independent young adult.
Katie can now identify red flags out in the community, which has improved her confidence and developed her social skills. Her team have also equipped her with the skills to use technology and safely navigate social media.
Katie’s hopes for the future include living completely independently and to eventually move in with her partner. She’s enjoying the newfound freedom that independence brings and continues to frequently meet up with her parents in the local town.
Find out more!
To learn more about our supported living services and how we can support you, a loved one or a client, complete our quick and easy form, and a member of our team will be in touch.
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