The following case studies show the wide range, and complexity, of the different problems experienced by the young people who have benefited from our services in the past. These are the very personal stories of people’s experiences of our services.
The names and photos of the young people in these case studies have been changed to protect their identity.
| Client Case Study | Natalia |
| Age | 17 |
| Key History Upon Admission |
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| Duration of Placement | 12 months |
Starting Point:
Natalia was referred to New Beginnings with a long standing history of aggression with violent outbursts and a confirmed diagnosis of reactive attachment disorder. Natalia had been placed with the New Beginnings project following a succession of failed placements in both foster and residential care. She was unable to maintain contact with her family for many years and has subsequently developed a mistrust of guardians and authority in general. Often this mistrust would manifest in verbal aggression and physical violence to peers and those responsible for providing care.
Natalia had been arrested prior to her admission to New Beginnings and was awaiting a magistrate hearing.
Care Plan and Progression:
Following their multi-disciplinary team assessment, New Beginnings agreed a care plan of action with Natalia with the aim of finding strategies to enable her to; process, understand and communicate her emotions, reduce the levels of stress arising from her inability to present her needs, to begin to work towards forging trusted relationships.
Natalia attended the in-house art, play and exercise development programmes as a starting point to communicate, decipher and address her emotions. These therapies alongside group and individual counselling sessions enabled her to specifically explore her anger as a natural emotion and how to find healthy pathways for expression.
Forging trusted relationships with peers and staff within New Beginnings was a slow, measured process with expected setbacks often expressed as violent outbursts. Over time Natalia grew to learn her voice would always be heard if communicated appropriately and her opinion was valued. The staff at the project are trained to listen patiently, let the client express their needs and support them to make informed choices. They proudly promote the fact that their clients are actively consulted about the setting of their care plans and agreed boundaries. This ensured Natalia felt in control of her supported life within New Beginnings.
Post New Beginnings Progression:
Post 18-year-old clients are moved on to a less supported accommodation provider. New Beginnings actively promote their independent living and follow their projects life skills programme in order to fully equip each client for the daunting move forward. Natalia successfully completed the program and initially found the transition to be simple however following minor setbacks she felt the need to contact New Beginnings for support. We were impressed by the fact that in her moments of adversity Natalia felt she could refer home to New Beginnings for reassurance, advice and emotional support. Natalia now lives alone fully unsupported.
Self-development wise, as part of the New Beginnings life skills programme the project encourage and teach their clients to learn how to prepare and cook healthy meals as a family each evening. During her stay Natalia developed a keen interest in becoming a chef and with the projects career guidance and support she was able to secure a placement at a local catering college. She continues to progress well educationally and is looking forward to completing the course and seeking employment.
Following her move Natalia continued to receive counselling from one of the trained counsellors from New Beginnings and continues to work on her personal development. She manages her anger in a positive way and has no further criminal incidents.
New Beginnings prides itself on delivering a professional, high quality, therapy based service for vulnerable young people. Their care provides a flexible, tailor made care package within a nurturing home environment to enable clients to develop emotionally, personally and educationally in order to reach their full potential.
| Client Case Study | Candice |
| Age | 16 |
| Key History Upon Admission |
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| Duration of Placement | 22 months |
Starting Point:
Candice was referred to New Beginnings following a spate of mental health admissions. Candice was a high risk young person with a history of sexual abuse. She had an extensive history of self-harm and had made various overdose attempts as a mechanism of processing her emotions. She has been diagnosed with both Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and reactive attachment disorder. Candice had complex medical needs and was heavily medicated for the beginning of her stay with New Beginnings.
Candice had very limited supervised contact with her family and found relationships hard to understand, trust or maintain. She had become accustomed to exhibiting extreme behaviour, often confrontational as a self-preservation mechanism.
Care Plan and Progression:
During her stay Candice made slow and steady progress through the projects individually tailored development programme and therapeutic pathways. The therapeutic team worked extensively with Candice in order to build trust and began to explore strategies to enable her to recognise, process and communicate her feelings, emotions and physical needs. The professional key workers provided a safe, open and supportive environment in which over time saw Candice comfortably begin to engage with peers and team members.
During the last 14 months of Candice’s stay at New Beginnings great gains had been made in her self-confidence and self-esteem. Relationships were formed both in and outside of the project. Candice had developed strategies which enabled her to deal with difficult emotions. This progression led to her slow reintegrated into full time education. Episodes of self-harming dramatically decreased and there were no further suicide attempts.
Post New Beginnings Progression:
Post 18-year-old clients are moved on to a less supported accommodation provider. Candice was moved to a shared apartment with minimally support. She continues to receive therapeutic service from New Beginnings on an outreach basis.
Candice has progressed well in further education and uses strategies learnt at the project to continue her personal development.
New Beginnings prides itself on delivering a professional, high quality, therapy based service for vulnerable young people. Their care provides a flexible, tailor made care package within a nurturing home environment to enable clients to develop emotionally, personally and educationally in order to reach their full potential.
| Client Case Study | Dray |
| Age | 16 |
| Key History Upon Admission |
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| Duration of Placement | 23 months |
Starting Point:
Dray was referred to New Beginnings with a long standing history of challenging behaviour with violent outbursts and a confirmed diagnosis of Post-Traumatic Stress disorder and Emerging Borderline Personality Disorder. Dray had been placed with the New Beginnings project following a succession of failed residential care placements and lengthy hospital admissions for substance misuse, self-harm or poorly managed diabetes.
There has been a long history of neglect and traumatic relationships within his immediate and extended family. Dray was a high risk young person who exhibited challenging behaviour in the form of threatening and intimidating actions. He had developed severe difficulties with dealing with professionals and regularly took life threatening risks in the form of substance misuse and self-harm. Dray was in denial of his diagnosis of diabetes and actively ignored medical advice which lead to numerous emergency admissions to hospital.
Care Plan and Progression:
Following their multi-disciplinary team assessment, New Beginnings agreed a care plan of action with Dray with the aim of finding strategies to enable him to recognise, process and communicate his feelings, emotions and physical needs, to begin to work towards forging trusted relationships in order to be open to support from substance abuse and medical teams, to set safe boundaries and explore strategies that would keep him safe in the community.
Initially Dray did well within the project but experienced a setback due to his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Dray attended the in-house art, play and exercise development programmes as a starting point to communicate, decipher and address his feelings, emotions and physical needs. He underwent a New Beginnings therapeutic assessment which enabled the team to provide Dray with tailor made support initially on a one to one basis then as progression targets were reach he began to participate in group sessions.
Overtime as trusting relationships were forged Dray began to feel at ease in the safe homely surroundings of New Beginnings. Self-Development targets were reached and Dray grew in confidence and self-worth. He a regularly attended drug and alcohol support groups and slowly began to take responsibility for his medical condition.
Post New Beginnings Progression:
Post 18-year-old clients are moved on to a less supported accommodation provider. Dray was moved into a minimally supported apartment where he lives alone. He continues to be supported by New Beginnings therapeutic team on an outreach basis. He is also supported by mental health, medical and drugs misuse team within the community. He continues to show healthy progression and is actively seeking voluntary work placements with a view to full time employment.
New Beginnings prides itself on delivering a professional, high quality, therapy based service for vulnerable young people. Their care provides a flexible, tailor made care package within a nurturing home environment to enable clients to develop emotionally, personally and educationally in order to reach their full potential.
To find out more about New Beginnings Support Services Ltd and to find out how to refer a young person to our service, phone us on 0800 772 0700 or email
