Active Prospects Impact Report 2023 final - Flipbook - Page 11
The team has transformed the
life of Katie*, a young woman
with highly complex needs who
lives at the service in her own
purpose-built flat.
This year Katie’s world has opened up and her life has
been transformed. Her team have gently encouraged
her to take on new challenges and achieve amazing
outcomes:
Katie has limited language; she is extremely
sensitive to noise; has difficulty managing
anxiety; and a tendency to damage her
environment. She joined Active Prospects after
a turbulent spell at a group home, where she
was left alone in her room with only a mattress
and locked set of drawers.
+ She attended and enjoyed the Active Prospects
Coronation Tea Party, which was attended by more
than 100 people in a highly sensory environment.
This was the first time Katie had attended an Active
Prospects event.
+ Katie’s relationship with her mum has improved
beyond recognition. Last year, visits from her mum
would last 30 seconds (“Hello Mummy/goodbye
Mummy”), whereas now they spend more than two
hours cooking and enjoying time together.
Her support team uses social stories and visual rotas
to help Katie to understand and communicate choices.
They have taken positive risks and worked closely with
OT/Psychology/Psychiatry and our Clinical Director
to introduce Katie to new activities, places, and
expectations.
+ Katie has gone from damaging property to becoming
house proud – if anyone leaves a mug out she will
wash it and return it to the staff shelf.
+ The team created a vegetable patch in the garden.
Katie enjoys planting, watering, picking fresh kale and
spinach from the ground, and then cooking it for dinner.
+ She has progressed from short trips out in the car
to shopping trips, horse-riding and even going up
the Shard in London. She now has her hair styled
at a busy local hairdresser. Recently she showed an
interest in a passing train, which led to her team
organising a day out in Brighton and travelling there
by train.
During the pandemic Katie reached crisis point: her
sensory needs and emotional wellbeing caused her
to damage property and be aggressive to staff. Her
support plan was reviewed and altered; property
damage was repaired and safety measures introduced,
such as boxed wiring and piping, and more robust
radiators and furniture.
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*not her real name