“I still struggle with the ‘same demons’ but with support from Every Little Thing, I’m putting myself on the road to recovery and a better way of life”.
Adam is a male in his 20’s with Asperger’s syndrome. He lost his father to suicide a few years ago and has attempted suicide himself twice since then. He has on several occasions told us that he thinks that is what he must do as that is what his father did. He has had a lot of involvement from mental health services but struggles to engage as in his own words ‘he does not feel he deserves to feel better.’ However, he has engaged fantastically with Every Little Thing, something he has said he is proud of. He has other services involved but has, in his own words, ‘flitted’ between them and never feels like he can be part of something.
Since being supported by ELT, Adam has expressed a desire to redo his GCSE’s as he did not finish school due to mental health problems. We have supported him to enrol in college to complete these. He calls it his ‘second wind for life’ which is truly a pleasure to hear.
Adam and his support worker have been building on his confidence in the community, he was bullied a lot at school and finds being around people very stressful as well as feeling overwhelmed often. He loves gardening and cycling, so we have been incorporating these into his sessions as he likes to feel there is a purpose to his sessions.
During reviews he has said that cycling and keeping fit has really helped with his self-esteem, he and his support worker often go to Bedgebury cycling.
A few months ago, we received a call from Adam stating that he no longer wants his support worker, but he would like a new one. He felt their relationship had come to an end and that perhaps she was no longer the best person to be supporting him. We felt this was a huge step in the right direction for him as he was not saying he doesn’t want support anymore, rather that he wants more support and felt his support worker couldn’t offer that – something which we absolutely praised him for as we felt this was a step in the right direction for his self-respect.
Since he has had his new support worker he has flourished. He is being supported to find work and join groups that interest him such as a local ‘Warhammer’ and cycling groups.
He feels that while he would like to continue having support, he recognises that it has been paramount to him becoming more self-sufficient and more stable.
He has not attempted suicide since being supported by Every Little Thing.
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