Rachel was originally referred to RotherFed for friendship calls by Rotherham Council in July 2020. Despite numerous attempts to engage with her, this was unsuccessful, and she was closed to the service. In August 2020 Rachel was re-referred for the friendship calls and again would not engage. When she was referred for the second time, it was established from the referrer that Rachel would not engage at all with any services in Rotherham and that this was an ongoing issue. She had not taken her meds, and had been discharged from mental health and counselling due to non attendance for meetings and appointments.
When Jane started with RotherFed, she picked up Rachel’s case, and started to call her at the end of September 2020. At first, Rachel would not engage as she did not trust any services as she felt ‘let down’ due to consistent staff changes etc. This was down to not taking her meds which helped with her anxieties, she self-harmed, had suicidal thoughts and suffered with the results of abuse and Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder.
As time went on, her confidence started to grow as Jane was consistent in her calls using a set time every week so that Rachel knew that she would no longer be let down. Over the months, a strong relationship ship of trust was forged.
Rachel started to engage again with services, and paid for her own private counselling, Although Rachel will not go out on her own for social purposes, she did catch a train to Leeds and Sheffield for medical appointments as this is something that she did have to do. This was extremely stressful, and she did need a lot of support prior. But she did manage to do it. She also enrolled on a mental health course, which she has now nearly finished.
When Connex was started in September 2021, Jane asked Rachel if she would like to attend a coffee morning. Rachel declined as her confidence was not yet at a level of being able to go out in a social situation. From September until November, this confidence was worked on and in December 2021, Rachel attended her first social outing in many years. Although this was extremely difficult for her, and it took a lot of gentle persuasion, she managed it and post event discussions have now highlighted that this is something that Rachel would regularly like to do. In time, the aim is to support Rachel to attend events on her own, but this in itself is a massive step forward for Rachel and has now given her hope for the future.