People's Stories
Some of the people who have used You Direct to help them with their plans have agreed that we can tell their stories.
Stuart
Stuart lived in an active local community and had a strong bond with his parents. He received 24-hour support from a provider agency and was described as challenging. Stuart was clear that he wasn’t happy with his life and his parents were concerned that his behaviour was alienating him from people.
We worked with Stuart, his family and those closest to him to see what kind of life he truly wanted. After exploring the kind of people he wanted in his life and the things he wanted to do we began to explore what was available and seek ways for Stuart to get the life he wanted. We made contacts, introduced Stuart to new people and came up with solutions.
Now, Stuart has an extremely active life with lots of people his age and states he enjoys his life. Stuart likes lots of physical sports and his job in a local garage, as well as a varied social life with friends rather than paid staff.
Claire
Claire had low confidence and depended heavily on her 24-hour support staff and management team. The local social services department would receive several calls a day from Claire wanting to chat.
After identifying what Claire would really like in life we worked to increase Claire’s confidence in her own abilities. As well as doing this we introduced Claire to local drop in services and increased Claire’s circle of support with more natural supports.
This enabled Claire to drop in on friends for a chat and growing in confidence allowed her to reduce staff support. Over time with lots of positive reinforcement Claire withdrew from the professional world more and more and entered the real world. Claire now has a close group of friends whom she receives support and advice from as well as, for the first time, also giving support and advice