Success stories | Daylight Centre

Bob is a male in his forties with schizophrenia and an addiction to alcohol: he has used the Daylight Centre for 4 years. His vulnerability frequently resulted in him finding difficulty in coping with his life; he showed this by heavy drinking and aggressive behaviour, and as a consequence he often found himself homeless, without money and in poor physical health. During these periods the Daylight team helped Bob by providing him with support for his emotional, physical and financial needs.

Bob ended up being homeless for a period of time during which his mental health significantly deteriorated. The Daylight Centre supported him through this period by liaising with his Assertive Outreach Team Worker to identify the best course of action. We also provided Bob with food, bedding, clothing and a postal address, enabling him to receive his welfare benefits.

He came into the Daylight Centre one day and told the team that he was homeless: they reacted by providing food, bedding and use of the shower facilities. Due to the relationship which the Daylight team had built with Bob they were concerned about his vulnerability. Over the period that followed the team supported Bob tin finding accommodation and securing a tenancy agreement. A member of our team assisted him with taking up this tenancy: going with him to the Borough Council to hand in his housing benefit form and to pick up the keys to his flat; as well as providing him with the basic household items essential for his new home.

Although Bob’s life had become less chaotic by early 2009, he was still using the Centre on a daily basis for meals and to socialise with other service users. His life has stabilised and now he comes in about once a month, to see his mates.

Katy is a female in her mid-thirties with drug and alcohol abuse issues who presented herself at the Daylight Centre. She said that she had used the Centre before but not for a long time. Once she trusted the staff here it emerged that she originally comes from Sunderland and was placed into care at the age of seven when her mother died.

On her first visit Katy disclosed that she was on a methadone programme organised by Huxlow House in Kettering (Northants Drug & Alcohol Services). At this stage in her life she wanted support to collect her benefit money and her medication. She had her Giro cheque sent to us and, when feeling threatened, one of our team would accompany her when she collected the money from the Post Office. We also supported Katy when she collected her prescription from her Doctor in Northampton.

The Daylight Centre team went with Katy when she attended court about the repossession of her flat due to rent arrears. Fortunately for Katy, the court was sympathetic and agreed to deduct instalments from her benefits to clear the debt. One of our team accompanied her to Wellingborough Council that afternoon to make a new Housing Benefit Claim and to state her case to keep the tenancy.

Daylight Centre continued to support Katy by encouraging her to persist with her methadone prescription and taking her to the hospital for consultations and tests. She used to leave her money with us to avoid her partner beating her to hand it over to him and she collected a small amount from us on a daily basis. The Centre observed her taking the medication to ensure that she stayed on the programme. That was in 2009, and since then Katy has tried residential rehab programmes. However, she left the Rehabs too soon and too often for the treatments to be of any real benefit to her. She has been assaulted regularly and her then partner was eventually deported after a conviction for GBH. She is thought now to be in a nearby town, but still not ready or able to give up her drug habit.

Danny is a young man with mental health problems and learning difficulties who lives in supported accommodation in Wellingborough. He had a support worker but he used to come to the Daylight Centre alone and just sit drinking coffee without ever joining in with group activities or socialising with others.

The Daylight team discovered he was interested in learning to drive and arranged for him to have one-to-one coaching sessions to assist him with learning driving theory, to become familiar with the software used by the Driving Standards Agency and to gain confidence in using a computer. During this time Danny learnt Driving Theory by repetition and taking mock exams, and was encouraged and supported by the Daylight team. He gradually improved his skills and had the confidence to take the actual Theory Test. Although he passed the theory part of the test Danny failed the Hazard Perceptions section because of slow responses.

Danny continued to take mock theory tests on the computer. He passed the test on his second attempt and began to have driving lessons shortly afterwards. Some months later we received feedback from Danny’s support worker, who said that they had seen a big difference in Danny. He was more confident, sociable and generally much happier. He had talked about his activities at Daylight and they were full of praise for the support he was given here.

We have not seen Danny for many months now; he no longer needs us and, as so often happens, we do not know the long term impact of our intervention. However, we filled the hole in his earlier support package and his key workers recognised the benefit to him of what Daylight had provided.

bob

katy

danny