Joe

Joe is a young man with a diagnosis of a learning disability, ADHD and a Personality Disorder.

Joe had a difficult childhood and was in the care system from an early age. Joe has spent most of his life from adolescence in care homes or hospitals. He has been involved many times with the criminal justice system and several attempts to support him in the community failed, resulting in his recall to hospitals. Joe’s education was disrupted and as a result he had difficulties with numeracy and literacy making work opportunities restricted for him, as well as disempowering. These issues impacted Joe’s life in a variety of ways, he was both vulnerable and a risk to others, to the extent that he was often detained under the Mental Health Act. Relationships with his family had deteriorated and were often a trigger to high risk behaviours to himself and others. Joe continued his recovery pathway when he transferred from a locked rehabilitation hospital to Ty Brynteg, a specialist social care home for men with mental health needs and or personality disorder who may have had contact with the criminal justice system.

What did Joe and his commissioners want to achieve?

• For Joe to remain in the community not hospital
• Not to repeat offending behaviour
• To improve literacy and numeracy
• To achieve some qualifications
• To have a job
• To develop and sustain positive relationships
• To regulate his emotions
• To integrate into the local community.
• To exercise his citizenship
• To co–produce Joe’s support and service; doing things with him not to him.
• To support Joe to develop problem solving skills and coping strategies.
• To develop life skills, especially money management.

What did we do to achieve these goals?

Since moving into OCS support Joe has been supported to address the issues which had caused him so many problems in the past, including his accumulation of significant debts which he had been unable to manage and which had a detrimental effecton Joe’s psychological wellbeing and behaviour. The multidisciplinary team encouraged and supported Joe to manage his own medication and to engage with therapies which help him to articulate his feelings and regulate his emotions in a less aggressive way.

The support team worked with Joe around his self-care and daily living skills, assisting him to access a money management course which enabled Joe to take control of his own finances. This enabled Joe to have sufficient money for his needs reducing frustration and associated incidents. Joe was also able to manage his debts, decreasing his stress and anxiety while also increasing his self-esteem and confidence.

What were the outcomes for Joe?

• Joe is established in the community
• No further offending
• Paid employment
• Active citizenship in his local community
• Significant reduction in levels of support with increased autonomy and independence
• Improved physical and emotional wellbeing

Managing so many of the aspects of day-to-day life which had been a struggle for Joe previously, he is now able to make realistic plans for himself to enable him to move to even greater independence. In addition to regular weekly charity work in the community, Joe was supported to find paid employment at Cardiff City Stadium.

Joe was able to repair relationships with his family; strengthening his sense of identity and belonging, and increasing his emotional security. He is no longer under Section and is working towards moving into his own studio flat in the very near future.