Autism Nicola’s amazing journey to supported living
Nicola is a person we support at one of our supported living homes. Nicola has autism, and over the years she’s faced many challenges that have impacted her self-confidence, and prevented her from gaining the independence she deserved.
When we first met Nicola, she was a shadow of the person we know today. Lacking confidence, she didn’t believe she could accomplish her goals in life. Being autistic presented many challenges, and Nicola also suffered in silence through many mental health struggles.
Fast forward to now, and Nicola is quickly ticking off those life goals! With the support of a specialist autism team, she’s worked to gradually increase her confidence, and learn key life skills. With a big boost in her self-esteem, Nicola gained so much independence that she’s now transitioned to supported living!
Dudley Street – where it all began
We first met Nicola in 2021, when she moved into Dudley Street, one of our specialist autism residential care homes. When she arrived, our team identified that she lacked confidence. Reluctant to get involved in activities at home, she also shied away from going out to the local community.
Assured that Nicola could build her confidence, her support team reassured her they had her best interests at heart. With time, they gained Nicola’s trust and she began to come out of her shell.
Taking high doses of medication for her needs, Nicola made the brave decision to review her medication at her registered GP. Nicola wanted to reduce her medication and gain a better understanding of why it was needed. Following a detailed conversation with her nurse, Nicola decided to stop taking the tablets she and her nurse had agreed were no longer required.
Reducing her medication was the first indication that Nicola’s confidence was growing. Self-assured and making her own decisions, she started expressing herself more. We began to learn more about Nicola, the things that made her tick, and what she wanted out of life.
Delivering person-centred care
For many autistic people, routine is key to ensuring they feel comfortable and happy. For Nicola, familiarity and structure is important and she felt happiest working to a set daily routine.
By getting to know Nicola as a person, we understood her needs, preferences, and what interests she had. Nicola’s support team collaborated with her to design a person-centred support plan that included all the activities she loved.
Still shaky with confidence, Nicola took small steps engaging with each activity and gradually progressed to getting stuck in on her own! Nicola loves getting creative, regularly painting pictures and diving into various arts and crafts activities.
Nicola was supported with her new passion, and this gave her so much joy. Her support team regularly took her out to purchase new colouring books, and she loved going to arts and crafts shops with them, such as Hobby Craft and The Works.
As well as pursuing her passions, our team at Dudley Street encouraged Nicola to develop key life skills by engaging with daily tasks, such as making her own breakfast and cleaning her bedroom. With each day that went by, Nicola felt empowered as she started to establish her independence. Her confidence beamed!
Alongside her activities at home, Nicola was encouraged to venture out into the community. Nicola was supported 1:1 and her team began to take her out to complete tasks such as personal shopping, short walks and going for meals.
The more Nicola ventured out, the more her confidence grew, and she’s since had lots of exciting trips! Some of Nicola’s favourite outdoor activities include going to the gym, visiting the swimming baths, and looking round the shops.
Gaining greater independence
Over a short period of time, Nicola’s independence was soaring! From the shy, reserved person that first walked through our door, she’d completely transformed herself.
Armed with bags of confidence, Nicola’s now fully independent! Once she’d checked off all the goals on her list, her next ambition was to build up enough confidence to book and attend her own hair and nail appointments.
To ensure Nicola felt comfortable enough to do this, her support team temporarily turned the home into a salon! By creating the environment Nicola aspired to be in, she had the opportunity to practice communicating what treatment she wanted. The team even did the treatments for her! This really benefitted Nicola’s confidence and, overtime, she was able to book her own appointments and attend salons in the local community.
The next step on Nicola’s amazing journey was doing some voluntary work at a local charity shop. Due to Nicola’s fantastic progress, her support team identified this as a great opportunity to further increase her independence, while gaining essential social skills with people in the community.
Nicola attended the charity shop three days a week and received support from the staff there. As Nicola built her confidence and independence, she was able to carry out tasks on her own around the shop.
Before joining Voyage Care, Nicola was reluctant to leave the house. Empowered with independence, this was a truly incredible achievement for Nicola, and marked the beginning of even more exciting changes to come!
Transitioning to supported living
Since her arrival at Dudley Street, Nicola has come a long way. Her inspirational journey was always going in one direction – and that was to supported living!
Over time, Nicola and her support team both became aware the level of support she needed was reducing. Visitors to the service even commented that they thought Nicola was a member of our team!
To develop her independence further, Nicola would need to transition to one of our supported living homes. Nicola was comfortable in the West Midlands area, so moving somewhere close by would be beneficial for her.
Nicola’s support team sat down with her and helped her use their laptop to look at all the Voyage Care supported living homes available. Nicola browsed through them all and discovered a vacancy that caught her eye.
This particular supported living home was close to Dudley Street and Nicola couldn’t believe her luck. She told her team that’s where she wanted to move to, and they got to work to make this happen.
With a preference for routine and familiarity, it was important to give Nicola time to adjust to the idea of moving to a new home. She loved her life at Dudley Street and her team and housemates felt like a second family to her. Her support team understood her move would be a mixture of sadness and excitement.
Nicola was given lots of notice before her move, she was kept in the loop with updates, and had regular visits to meet her new support team.
Ahead of the transition, they kept her spirits up and continued to develop her social skills by taking her out to do her favourite activities, such as bowling and drinking coffee at Costa.
Nicola was also encouraged to phone her new home regularly and keep in touch with her new support team. She did just that and became more familiar with them each time.
Rebuilding confidence
As Nicola began life in supported living, her confidence dipped and she needed support to build it up again. Sad about leaving Dudley Street, she missed her support team and housemates.
But her new support team regularly comforted her and reassured her that things would be ok. Nicola was also concerned she wouldn’t fit all her belongings in her new bedroom. Recognising that Nicola was worried she didn’t fit into her new home, they worked hard to reassure her moving was the best decision for her development.
Her support team sat down with her and explained they would be ordering her a new wardrobe and ensured her that all her things would fit in it. She also had the freedom to personalise her bedroom to her own taste and she loved it!
Once Nicola was settled into her home, her support team got to work on creating a new bespoke care plan, including all the hobbies and interests she enjoyed at Dudley Street!
They had regular chats with Nicola to find out her likes and dislikes, and how she wanted to shape her routine.
Nicola continued getting creative with arts and crafts, and started helping with cooking meals, going to a local disco, and venturing out into her new community.
As time went on, Nicola began to spread her wings and became increasingly confident. Thriving in her new environment, each activity benefitted her massively.
She has built long-lasting relationships with her support team, and they encourage her to always try new activities and further increase her independence.
Providing essential emotional support, they understand the nature of Nicola’s mental health needs and comfort her when she got anxious.
With her mental health challenges and communication difficulties, Nicola sometimes finds it easier to write down her feelings and worries. Keeping a journal, she then passes it to her support team to read if she isn’t feeling up to talking.
Nicola has also bonded well with her new housemates. Gradually, she’s become more comfortable around them and loves their company. She’s particularly connected with Kelly, who’s now one of her best friends. Nicola and Kelly have built an incredible relationship and often have a chat and giggle together!
Accomplishing incredible achievements!
Since arriving at our supported living home, Nicola’s built a long list of incredible achievements!
She’s continued to grow in confidence and her independence is soaring!
Nicola regularly goes out into the community and enjoys socialising with other people. When Nicola first arrived with us, she was hesitant to even venture to the local shop. Her support team worked with her to go out more often and, overtime, her trust in them grew and she was reassured she was safe in the community. Able to get out and about on her own, she now enjoys regular walks out and is targeting a four-mile route to Wolverhampton city centre.
Her achievements don’t stop there! Nicola’s love for music has seen her go on a dream trip to a James concert! Nicola listens to music with her support team and takes part in musical quizzes – which she’s brilliant at!
When one of her support workers discovered James were playing in Birmingham, she asked Nicola if she wanted to go. With eight weeks until the concert, Nicola became anxious about the logistics of the trip.
People with autism often grow anxious around new situations and changes to their routine, and Nicola’s team knew exactly how to support her through it.
Worried about timings and the journey to Birmingham, her Support Worker explained everything to her and how they would be traveling. They assured her they would look after her and she would be safe.
Nicola went to the concert and had the time of her life, rocking out to every song and loving every minute! Going to a busy music event like this showcases the amazing progress Nicola has made with the support of our teams!
Future goals
Nicola’s come such a long way we couldn’t be prouder of her. And she’s assured us, this is just the start! Nicola’s on a mission to tick off many more goals and we’re certain more amazing achievements are just round the corner!
Keen to see her develop further, Nicola’s support team will continue to help her increase her independent living skills. And keen to grow her confidence further, Nicola’s aiming to catch the bus on her own. Nicola will be encouraged to take small steps in the community so she can eventually achieve this goal.
Nicola also has another goal which is close to her heart. She wants to gain enough independence so she can eventually move in with her Dad. She has a great relationship with him and one day wants to be able to live with him.
Living the fulfilling life she deserves with the support of her expert team, Nicola’s on track to accomplish all the goals she desires!
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