Tom*, who lives in one of our residential care homes in Kent, has learning disabilities and autism. Tom’s* autism results in him liking to have full control over his surroundings. He does not like long activities, car journeys or being in crowds as he feels these remove his control.

Supporting Tom*

Voyage Care began supporting Tom* in 2015 and it was clear from the start that his anxiety and autism had an effect on the activities, outings and even daily life activities Tom* would participate in.

When Tom* first started living in one of our homes, he took part in limited activities and even refused to go out into the community to have his hair cut or go to a doctor’s appointment.

It was clear that he needed dedicated support to be able to progress, so the Voyage Care staff at the home ensured that Tom* received 2:1 support on a daily basis.

Starting to make progress

Once Tom* was comfortable with his surroundings and his support team, staff began to ease him into different daily activities, ensuring he had a choice and input into what he wanted to do.

Tom* began going swimming, going to the barbers, going on the bus as well as taking part in small activities with other residents. He even began asking to go out on a daily basis, which his family and support team never thought they’d hear him say.

Tom* was a big fan of West Ham United F.C. He had been to West Ham stadium 10 years ago and had always dreamt of going again, but due to his struggles with crowds, journeys and long activities, it didn’t seem possible.

It was only through the on-going support and development by his support team that Tom* fulfilled his desire and went to West Ham stadium last month for a stadium tour. The tour which lasted almost 2 hours along with the 2 hours of travelling was an astonishing achievement. The team had tried this activity before but had never succeeded, so to finally accomplish this was great for Tom*, his family and his support workers.

Once he returned home after the activity, he was very proud of his own achievement and talked about it for days. Tom* has many pictures of the day, which show just how happy he was.

His next goal is to attend a football game at West Ham Stadium. Staff will be working with him to hopefully achieve this goal in the near future!

*Some of the details have been changed for confidentiality reasons.­