We initially visited W whilst he was residing in a mental health hospital near Manchester. He was sad and lonely and shared a list of questions with us. Our CEO and Operations Manager visit all our new young people, particularly when they are transitioning from secure accommodation.

Despite being a little shy at first, he soon started chatting and wanted to know whether he could walk to the shops on his own, could he have a mountain bike, what colour could he paint his room and had prepared lots of other useful questions that gave him a much clearer picture of what his care and support would look like going further. He had spent a lot of his teenage years in residential placements due to his ASD and associated behaviours and unfortunately all of them had failed due to his behaviours not being managed appropriately, which is very difficult to do if you do not have the right staff team in place.
We learnt that his last placement has failed due him committing arson, scaling the roof of the school numerous times and threatening to jump, sexualised behaviours towards female staff and at times aggression and control.

He came under the care of PCG in June 2022. He initially went through a period of feeling unsettled which is very normal, but thankfully his family only lived 30 mins drive away and visited regularly. Family involvement is always encouraged where appropriate. Over the first 3 months we encountered one major incident, where he absconded, scaled a roof and caused a lot of damage. This was all due to an obsession over a female staff member at his local youth group – this was a very big learning curve. His support team were upset and felt they had let him down, but were encouraged to take stock, learn and move on. The team received additional training around ASD, obsessions and worked closely with CAMHS to ensure they were offering the right advice and support.

After several months it was decided that his Dol’s could be removed as he was making such amazing progress. At this point he was able to take short trips out of the home on his own to buy snacks or go to the park, he also learnt to cook, bake, and manage his finances better – he still loves to spend money, but he is much better at budgeting now. His team involved him in lots of new activities, and he loved to go hiking and have dinner on a camping stove on the hills, going to the gym was also a firm favourite and he continues to play football for a Premier League Disabled Team which was introduced to him fairly early on in his care package.

After approx. 10 months his support went from 3:1 down to 2:1. He no longer showed aggression, there was no absconding and he was very settled, in a routine, accessing education and very happy with his life. He was also having overnight/weekend stays with mum and his sister and this continues.
2 years later and we have just reduced his support to 1:1 as he is now ready for independent living, and we are immensely proud of the young man he is today.

Some of his staff team have been there with him since the early days and he has excellent bonds with many of them.