St Elizabeths Centre Annual Report End Dec 2022 FINAL - Flipbook - Page 19
Tom’s Story - told by his dad Toby
Tom started mainstream school when he was 7. Tom struggled with
behaviour problems and then he developed epilepsy and it was clear
that his ability to learn was not the same as his other peers. After many
meetings and talks with the mainstream school and acceptance on my
part, it was decided that it would be best for Tom to go
to a specialist school so the hunt was on. Tom’s old head
teacher found St Elizabeth’s and recommended it so we
took Tom for a trial overnight stay. By all accounts Tom
seemed to enjoy this and was interested in this as he felt
that he was like one of the other peers.
So Tom left his mainstream school when he was 10 for St
Elizabeth’s and never looked back. Tom soon found out
that he had a peer group and liked being with the carers
too. His con昀椀dence that he had lost at mainstream was
starting to come back. Tom was a boarder for weekdays
only at the start but soon wanted to stay all the time. He
was happy to be in the St E’s world, he felt safe and he
progressed well over the years until he was 19 when he
had to leave to try to 昀椀nd a career.
After a lot of thought Tom decided he wanted to be a
carer to try to give something back in the community that
had given him so much, but he also wanted to do sports.
So with the help of social services, an Apprenticeship was
formed to cater for his needs and aspirations for which St
E’s became his employer.
Tom has worked at St Elizabeth’s for 2 years now and he loves the
routine of going to work, living independently in a cared house in
Bishop’s Stortford and is 昀椀nding his independence fast which as a
parent is how we want our children to grow up to be.
With 2 years under his belt, Tom now feels really to move on to his
next adventure, with the full support of St Elizabeth’s and Essex Career
Service.
As a parent it was a relief to 昀椀nd St E’s and I will always remember
deeply in my heart what the Centre has done for Tom and continues
to do so.
I am truly grateful to St E’s for giving Tom the con昀椀dence in life to
grow and 昀椀nd he can be independent and achieve what he needs to
achieve to be satis昀椀ed with life.
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