Making a difference to John* and his family
John’s GP practice referred him to the social prescribing service, which recognised that he needed help. John’s biggest issue was his alcohol dependency; he had been dependant for over 10 years. He lives in poverty, was not claiming benefits and relied on family handouts to buy alcohol.
Our social prescriber met with John regularly for almost a year, providing support to address his alcoholism. After a few ups and downs relating to treatment, he finally managed to complete a residential detox and has been sober for several weeks. He was supported to apply for and successfully claim for welfare and benefits.
He’s waiting to start Talking Therapies to help address the root causes of his addiction, which is related to family trauma, marital separation and not being allowed to see his children.
He is being supported to apply for rehousing. This will help reduce the risk of relapse as his flat is above an off-licence and in a community where drugs and alcohol are very problematic social issues. He is also being supported by Citizens Advice to clear his debts.
John and his sister have said the level of support he has had from the social prescriber and his GP team, who have worked collaboratively, is outstanding.
He firmly believes without the support he would have drunk himself to death. He and his family cannot thank the social prescriber enough for all they have done.
He is actively looking for work, keeping fit and getting interested in hobbies and meeting people again, after living many years in isolation with cider as his only companion.
Andrew* feels more optimistic about the future
Andrew has been through a very traumatic situation. He lost his family, job, and quality of life in a very short space of time. He’s very isolated with only one close friend for support.
After talking about how he fills his time and the sorts of things he was interested in – Andrew said he would like to get fit, improve his confidence and self-esteem – our navigator made several different referrals.
This included Live Well, for support to go to the gym; Moving Forward to help with his confidence and Connecting Communities to give Andrew some regular one-to-one support and company with getting out of the house.
Andrew has been going to the gym regularly which has improved his wellbeing and general health. He has engaged with Moving Forward and has been along to their drop-in sessions which he found very helpful. He has also had some contact with Connecting Communities and is waiting for a support worker to be allocated to him.
Andrew said; “I feel like I have moved in a positive direction, I’m much more optimistic about the future.”
*names have been changed