He was settled in a tenancy with his partner and two sons, and was working in an office. John and his partner started having problems with their relationship which eventually came to an end. This had a big effect on John and his mental health. Thankfully he had friends who allowed him to sleep on their couch for a short while. This wasn’t a long term solution for John though and eventually he ended up sleeping on his brother's bedroom floor.
In the midst of all the stress and uncertainty that John was facing, he was still trying to manage seeing his sons on a regular basis as well as maintain his work. Eventually something had to give and John lost his job. John’s mental health was at a real low and in an attempt to escape from the stress, he began binge drinking alcohol.
John was left with no home, no job, plunged into a benefit system which was increasingly difficult to understand and his mental health was getting worse. It seemed like the only escape for John was to spend what little money he had on alcohol and fall into a vicious circle of low mood, anxiety and depression.
John was introduced to Kenny, a support worker from The Whitechapel Centre Dual Diagnosis team. Both John and Kenny sat down and worked out a support plan together. The aim of the plan was to get John the best help and guidance around his low mood, depression and anxiety, support him to move to his own independent tenancy, give John the option of alcohol services if he wanted to engage with it. Kenny was also there for John if he simply needed someone to talk to.
Kenny accompanied John to appointments and supported John to keep in contact with relevant medical services so that John could get the right help and support with his mental health. John met with Kenny on a weekly basis to search for properties and have a coffee and a chat at a local coffee shop. This helped John reflect on how he could do things in his life to reduce his alcohol intake as well as aim for a new tenancy for himself.
After many months of searching and bidding on Property Pool Plus last month John accepted a tenancy that he wanted, and is currently in the busy process of decorating his new flat. He now has a place he can build a new life for himself and also has space for his sons to stay over and spend quality time with him. John has significantly reduced his alcohol intake and he is budgeting his money for his new flat. His mental health continues to improve. Kenny will continue to work with John in the coming months to help him settle into his new flat and also work on improving his mental health.
We all at The Whitechapel would like to wish John all the very best for the future!
To find out more about the work that Kenny does as a part of the Whitechapel dual diagnosis team visit our website at: http://www.whitechapelcentre.co.uk
