Shelly was fleeing domestic violence. She was then housed in emergency accommodation whilst her local authority found her appropriate accommodation. Shelly did not want to be housed anywhere near Darlington as this is where her ex-partner lived, so they referred her to us. Shelly viewed and accepted a property with Moving On and was allocated to Lucie, one of our experienced support workers.
As Shelly had fled her home, this meant she turned up to her new home with Moving On with very little. Through donations and supervised shops, Lucie supported Shelly to pick up bits to make her house more of a home.
Lucie also helped Shelly with budgeting and managing a home as Shelly’s ex-partner was controlling, resulting in Shelly not having any experience of paying bills or even a food shop. Lucie and Shelly together talked through what expenditure Shelly would have left after bills etc which helped her a lot. They also went food shopping together as Shelly was nervous at first.
As time went by, Shelly started to feel quite isolated as she had moved to an area where she did not know anyone. Lucie straight away put support mechanisms in place. Shelly wanted to meet new people, so Lucie enrolled her onto a Prince’s Trust course in order to meet people her own age. She soon made friends and, as a result, now has a positive support network around her.
To support Shelly in her home, Lucie talked about a referral into Harbour, which Shelly agreed with. Harbour supported her property to become more secure, leading to her feeling safe in her home. Lucie also mentioned a referral to Talking Changes to address her trauma in a safe way, which Shelly also agreed to.
Since Lucie has worked with Shelly, she did receive some knock-backs. Her ex-partner tried to getting in contact via social media and she also suffered a family bereavement. Shelly dealt with these life experiences in a positive and mature way, supported by Lucie.
Fast forward to now and Shelly is really happy with the progress she is making. She feels her confidence has grown and she is proud of how far she has come. She has a positive support network around her and is able to manage her own home, which is amazing as she felt before she always had to rely on someone else.
Shelly has made her house into a home which is always very tidy. She feels she is now in the right state of mind to look for part-time work as a store assistant. She is managing her mental health really well and is in a new relationship. Shelly is happy and most definitely deserves it.