Success Stories
T's Story
T had been in multiple foster placement breakdowns. This was sadly, as a result of her aggressive behaviour, lack of involvement with education, sleep issues and a lack of self-care skills.
T arrived at Orchard House in a state of crisis, struggling to manage her emotions. T's physical outbursts, often resulted in attempts to assault the staff by kicking, punching, biting and spitting at them. Our dedicated staff remained consistent in their approach in trying to stabilise her aggressive behaviour.
As a company, we are firm believers in working in working in partnership with multi-agencies to achieve optimum results. T's CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service) Team were encouraged to visit Orchard house on a weekly basis to discuss our ongoing care delivery.
This had a significant impact and we saw a huge reduction in T's physical angry outbursts. There was progress in other areas, too.
An alternate more suitable specialist education provision instead of mainstream schooling, was found by our dedicated staff. T immediately, settled in extremely well, gaining confidence in developing her functional skills, self-care skills as well as in her independent living life skills.
As T's relationship with Orchard House staff team developed and improved, the reason for her sleep issues became apparent. This meant that we could make small changes to enable her to feel safe and secure in her own environment. T was actively encouraged to decorate her room in her own style and interests. We were rewarded with a huge improvement in her sleeping patterns, as T became more settled and happier in Orchard House.
In due course, the improvements in T's behaviour and outlook were so significant, that the option of fostering was reconsidered.
T relished the opportunity to be placed in a fostering environment again. A suitable foster carer was identified and T successfully completed a transition into her new home, to everyone's delight!
Due to the lack of progression with regards to her physical outbursts, staff sought guidance from T's CAMHS workers in order to identify a new approach to the care delivery. Due to this, the CAMHS team visited the home on a weekly basis to give guidance and direction to alternate methods/ approaches to T's care delivery. This had a significant impact and we saw a huge reduction in T's physical outbursts and we began to see progress in other areas.
T was initially placed in a mainstream school however, she had a disability that made everyday living difficult, especially with regards to education and the environment she was learning in. Once we had managed to stabilise her behaviours, we sought alternate specialist education provision to meet T's needs. This had an instant impact, going from strength to strength, developing her functional skills but also her independence skills and self care skills.
As T's relationships developed with the team, we managed to understand what made her feel frightened at night, and how we could make small changes to enable her to feel safe and secure in her own environment. T was able to decorate her room to suite her style and interests, and we began to see a huge improvement with regards to her sleeping patterns, becoming much more settled and consistent.
Over this time, the improvements T had made were so significant, that the option of fostering was reconsidered and T relished the opportunity for this. A suitable foster carer was identified and T successfully completed a transition into her new home.
* Stock image for illustrative purposes only
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