Wednesday 6 March 2013

The Whitechapel Centre - Supporting people to achieve a better quality of life.

Support worker Sarah, a member of our Dual Diagnosis team, is currently working with someone who suffers from mental health problems, along with the painful condition osteoarthritis.

She* was living in a privately rented flat which had not been adapted to meet the needs of her disability, which in turn meant she had to rely on the constant support of her husband to use the bathroom facilities.

She also relied on him simply to get to, and move around the flat, as there are stairs needed to access the flat and also internal stairs. 

To add to their woes the couple where also experiencing a lot of anti-social behaviour from their neighbours which was having a detrimental effect on our client's existing mental health problems. 

She has been suffering from osteoarthritis for 14 years, and yet has never lived in an adapted property meaning the quality of her life has been poor for all this time. 

Sarah supported her to register on the adapted homes waiting list, with the result that both her and her husband have just moved into an adapted flat - helping to relieve the issues with both her physical and mental health. 

Living in an adapted flat has changed her life, affording her the ability to live more independently, and being away from troublesome neighbours has provided a more peaceful existence.


A smiling face says it all...


When Sarah asked if she was happy with her change of circumstances she was told “Moving into the flat has improved my life by 1000%!  It has given me peace of mind.” 

To find out more about the work that the housing support teams carry out please go to our website at: http://www.whitechapelcentre.co.uk/resettlement--housing-support.html

*The lady in question has asked us not to use her name for the purposes of this blog.