Jennifer’s travel training success at Aldeburgh House!

When Jennifer joined the organisation in 2004 she had a great deal of anxiety, impacting on her ability to access the community and limiting her independence. Jennifer needed support with personal care, medication and support to maintain relationships with family and friends.

Since Jennifer’s arrival at Aldeburgh House the team have been supporting Jennifer to work on her anxiety levels which benefits her confidence and independence. At a person centred planning meeting 6 months ago, Jennifer requested she receive additional support to further her independence in the community and in particular travel training, proving to staff her confidence had grown significantly.

Achieving Success

Given the enormity of Jennifer’s goal, the support team decided not to add unnecessary pressure by adding a timeframe to Jennifer achieving her goal. The team started by supporting Jennifer in finding bus timetables within the local area in order to plan her route always giving encouragement and praise. Jennifer’s confidence started to build gradually and was soon looking to further her achievements.

With support, Jennifer began to travel from Aldeburgh House to College and after two months of Jennifer successfully completing this journey, Jennifer’s key worker discussed the next step – enabling Jennifer to take this journey alone. Support Staff explained to Jennifer that during the first month they would still travel on the bus for support, gradually reducing the support and increasing the distance between Jennifer and the support staff. This was extremely successful and with regular encouragement and praise for her achievements, Jennifer gained confidence in her ability to succeed.

Facing an Unexpected Challenge

In January 2012 Jennifer was faced with a challenge when the bus she normally takes had to terminate unexpectedly at a different location. This did not phase Jennifer and she found another bus to Colchester, calling staff to let them know what had happened. Her elation when she arrived home that day was clear to see, and staff felt Jennifer really had achieved the results she was hoping for.

This is a huge success for Jennifer and she is already looking forward to the next phase of her new found independence!

Key to Success

The approach the team took enabled Jennifer to feel confident in her ability to manage on her own, always having the level of support needed at the right time in case she felt anxious. This along with praise for her achievements empowered Jennifer to see how far she had come and has given her the self belief to begin looking at other aspects of her self development. Jennifer has expressed her desire to work in a voluntary capacity and the staff team are now looking at ways to help Jennifer achieve her next goal.