Autism Sarah regains her confidence with specialist support
Sarah is a person we support at BROCS, one of our specialist autism and learning disability services. Sarah has autism and has faced many challenges with anxiety. Because of this she’s struggled to express herself, leading to her presenting challenging behaviour towards other people, including those she cares about most.
Unable to control her emotions and feeling increasingly frustrated, Sarah and her family knew she needed specialist support to help her overcome her anxieties and move on with her life.
That’s when they reached out to Voyage Care. Joining BROCS was a big reset for Sarah, and with our specialist support, she’s reduced her anxiety and learnt a variety of self-help techniques to support her mental wellbeing.
With her anxieties reduced, Sarah’s independence has soared. Able to control her emotions, her self-esteem has increased and she’s confident venturing out into the community and doing the things she loves.
Rediscovering herself at BROCS
Sarah joined BROCS in 2018 and hasn’t looked back since! When she arrived with us, we spent time learning all about her, and some of the struggles she was facing.
We did this by completing a person-centred assessment on Sarah, where we worked closely with her and her family to learn all about her, and what was stopping her living her best life.
Through this, we discovered more about Sarah’s anxiety, and how her challenging behaviour often stemmed from this.
Routine goes hand in hand with autism. Many autistic people find comfort in routines and patterns – benefiting from knowing what will happen in advance. Sarah is no different, and when she joined us, she struggled to adapt to new changes to her daily routine.
To help her navigate change, Sarah’s support team were open and honest with her, taking time to explain the reasons her routine was changing. This often took time, but once Sarah felt reassured the changes were for her development, she started to adapt to her new routine.
Learning Sarah’s triggers and identifying solutions to make her feel more comfortable was at the forefront of her care plan, allowing her to progress and rediscover herself. With our specialist support she embarked on a journey of increased confidence and independence.
Helping Sarah reduce her anxiety
As Sarah became more comfortable in her new environment, her support team started to learn more about Sarah as a person and discovered timeframes were triggering Sarah’s anxiety. Not knowing the specific dates of key events in her life gave Sarah a sense of worry.
Working closely with Sarah’s family, we identified the events that caused the most anxiety, and created an action plan to reduce her worries.
Sarah’s support team designed a special countdown chart for her. This did wonders for communicating calendar dates and events with Sarah – instantly improving her anxiety.
The chart includes all the dates for each month, with pictures of BROCS added to each day of the week, so Sarah knows she is attending the service on those days. Her team add notes indicating the days she is at home, so Sarah has extra reassurance of her routine.
On one occasion, a particular worry for Sarah was the build up to a family holiday. Using the countdown chart her expert team designed for her, Sarah found the process easier to understand when a picture of a beach was added to the days she’d be on holiday.
This helped her prepare for the build-up and Sarah even started to get excited! Crossing off the days each week gave her immense joy. She showed her support team and felt proud of her achievement.
The countdown chart has helped reduce Sarah’s anxiety, supporting her to understand timeframes and feel more at ease when preparing for events throughout the year.
Discovering new passions
Following Sarah’s arrival at BROCS, her team encouraged her to tell them about her interests and passions.
This formed part of her person-centred care plan, ensuring she could participate in all the activities she loved.
Each day, Sarah tells her support team what she wants to do and has flexibility to try new things based on how she feels.
Arts and crafts were instantly recognised as something Sarah is passionate about, so we always add these activities to her care plan so she can engage in this hobby and get creative!
BROCS has its own art room and one of our talented Support Workers moonlights as an artist – Sarah couldn’t believe her luck!
Sarah loves painting different things, colouring pictures, and getting stuck into creating artwork with different materials. Her talent has shone brightly so far, and we’re sure there’s more amazing artwork to come!
As Sarah’s confidence grew, she began to open up more to our team.
We discovered she also has a keen interest in cooking. As soon as the team recognised this was a passion of hers, they worked with her to access the BROCS training kitchen and safely participate in cooking activities! Sarah often shadows her support team in the kitchen, helping them cook up a menu of tasty treats and meals!
Communicating in a way that is comfortable for Sarah, they explain each recipe and what food they need to make the meals. Sarah is always keen to get stuck in, so we support her to fulfil this goal.
Sarah has great fun making cupcakes – one of her favourite treats! With support, Sarah cracks the eggs into the mixing bowl, and helps add the other ingredients before giving the bowl a good stir!
When the cupcakes are out of the oven, Sarah is so proud of herself for getting involved and helping her team cook them. Sarah is always keen to evolve her skills in the kitchen and is working on cooking other foods in the future!
Going out into the community
By establishing some home-based activities with Sarah, her behaviours and anxiety reduced. Knowing how much she loves to get out and about though, we discussed with her about venturing into the local community.
At first, Sarah warmed to the idea but still worried about getting out and about. To prevent any spirals in Sarah’s behaviour, her route out into the community had to be worked up to slowly.
To get the ball rolling, Sarah’s support team began taking her outside for short walks around the BROCS building. Situated in a quiet, scenic wooded area, it gave her a taste of being in a different environment.
This then progressed to walks in the local area. As Sarah’s confidence grew, she was accompanied to the local shops by her team. This was a big step for Sarah and gave her so much fulfilment.
Popping to the shops has now become a regular activity on Sarah’s planner. Alongside her Support Worker, she often walks over to the local supermarket to pick up items for lunch – and for their baking sessions!
Since joining us, Sarah’s progression has been fantastic. Each day, she’s growing as an individual and embracing her passions.
Now, she enjoys visiting a variety of locations in the wider community. She’s even built her confidence enough to catch public transport with her support team, regularly visiting the swimming baths, bowling alley, and local pub. She also pops to her local salon for a manicure and eats out at different restaurants.
Gaining greater independence
Using a person-centred approach, Sarah is thriving and becoming more independent every day! She’s comfortable at BROCS and is encouraged to do activities that help develop her key life skills.
Sarah’s progression has also had a positive impact on her home life. At the weekends, she helps her Mum cook and loves making delicious dishes. Her speciality is lasagne!
She doesn’t stop at cooking either! Sarah gets stuck into other jobs like hanging out the washing, gardening, and cleaning the family car.
This is just the start for Sarah and there’s so much more to come. Anxiety and confidence prevented Sarah from achieving her full potential, but that’s not the case anymore. Our person-centred support, tailored to her individual needs, goals, and ambitions has supported Sarah to move forward with her life. Embarking on a journey of self-discovery, she’s reached new heights.
We’ll continue to support Sarah, empowering her to achieve her goals and aspirations to live her best life!
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