Active Prospects Impact Report 2023 final - Flipbook - Page 17
Wellbeing coaching programme
A successful year of grant funding applications was capped off when
we were awarded grants of £299k (from Surrey County Council’s
Mental Health Investment Fund) and £40k (from Nationwide’s
Community Grants) to create an innovative new wellbeing coaching
pilot. The programme will build on the success of a small-scale social
prescription project run by our Clinical Director, Lynsey Way, which
enables autistic people with mental health needs to work with a
coach to find personalised ways to improve their wellbeing.
Social prescribing is an approach
that connects people to
activities, groups, and services in their
community to meet the practical, social
and emotional needs that affect their
health and wellbeing.” – NHS
Our project differs from more traditional social prescribing
approaches by allocating an individual budget for participants to
spend on activities, therapeutic interventions, facilities or technology
which will make the biggest difference to their wellbeing.
Ben* is a young man who has a diagnosis of autism, ADHD,
personality disorder, depressive disorder, PTSD and diabetes type 2.
He spent most of his late childhood and teenage years in psychiatric
hospitals. He moved to a shared mental health service four years
ago, and has since moved into his own flat at another Active
Prospects service.
Ben has a lot of trauma related to his time in hospital and other key
life events. This has led him to have a profound mistrust of people
in authority and resulted in him being discharged from community
mental health teams due to a negative response to doctors and care
coordinators. Ben has benefited from wellbeing coaching because
it has enabled him to have his voice heard and to pursue his own
interests: with coaching support, he has completed an outdoor
survival course (funded by his individual budget), and is looking to
become an instructor.
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*not his real name