Chris is a person we support at Esmer House, our specialist Prader-Willi syndrome residential care home in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. He has Prader-Willi syndrome and type-2 diabetes.
Chris moved to Esmer House in 2020 and began his Voyage Care journey during the COVID-19 pandemic. As everyone adjusted to a new way of living, Chris was stepping outside his comfort zone even further and adapting to life away from his family.
Moving to Esmer House was a huge step for Chris… but he soon settled in.
Since we last caught up with Chris, he’s continued to smash his goals and embark on a life full of happiness, accomplishment and even more confidence!
Passionate and person-centred
Our team at Esmer House are passionate about person-centred care and put Chris at the heart of decision making when it comes to his support. Involving him in every aspect of his care, he makes choices when he wants to.
Through this approach, Chris feels listened to, valued, and has grown his confidence as he creates the life he wants and pursues new activities.
This approach has also been applied to his structured meal plan. Because Chris has Prader-Willi syndrome, regulating his appetite is a struggle. So, his team support him to eat within his calorie requirements and mix up his meal choices. They encourage him to explore new foods and decide what he wants to eat.
Part of our person-centred approach is supporting Chris to establish and work towards new goals, so he lives a life that’s meaningful to him. He’s always working with his team to discover new goals he wants to achieve and, since he’s been at Esmer House, the achievements keep coming!
New achievements
With support and guidance from his expert team, Chris has gradually built up his independent living skills. Over time, he’s worked up to cleaning his own bedroom and bathroom. Once he ticked this goal off his list, he naturally weaved more into his support plan! He now proudly helps his team with the laundry and is eager to learn more daily living skills.
Following the lockdown restrictions, Chris was eager to get back out in the community and visit new places for the first time.
He soon picked up from where he was before the lockdown restrictions, regularly visiting the shops and playing snooker with his housemates again.
When it comes to accessing the local community, he still requires one-to-one support with food management, his finances, and medication. With his team supporting him with these tasks, he confidently embraces new activities.
Chris is a huge Manchester United fan and was determined to see one of their matches. Our team supported Chris to build up to this, planning how they would safely travel there with him. Eventually, match day arrived, and Chris experienced Old Trafford for the first time with his support team. He loved every minute of this experience and has continued going to more matches.
Our support has helped Chris live a happy and healthy life at Esmer House. He’s grown in confidence and enjoys lots of fun activities in the community.
Georgia Cooper, Senior Support Worker
One of Chris’ other goals was to get more physically active and lose a little weight. A motivated man, he’s done just that! He’s smashing his weight loss goal by engaging in regular exercise – which has also helped him to manage his diabetes.
With the support of his compassionate team, Chris now goes to the gym several times a week and loves swimming in the local pool. He’s worked up to swimming an impressive 80 lengths!
Volunteering work
As Chris continued to increase his independence and meet all his aspirations, his dreams grew bigger. His next goal was to secure some volunteering work.
When his team discovered a role as a waiter at a local café, they discussed this opportunity with Chris.
He was keen to get stuck in but, due to his Prader-Willi syndrome, a lot of consideration had to be given to ensure the environment was safe and wouldn’t have a negative impact on his wellbeing.
With food easily accessible, we worked with the team at the café to ensure Chris would be guided, supported and kept safe.
Everything aligned and Chris began his first shift. Since starting his new job, he’s settled in wonderfully with the team. He’s also gained so much more confidence and independence from learning what’s it’s like in a workplace environment.
Chris has enjoyed his role at the café so much, he’s since taken a second volunteering role as a waiter! He now works three days a week waiting on and serving food to the public.
Jetting off abroad!
One of Chris’ biggest goals was to go on holiday. As he gained more confidence in the community and understood the importance of dietary management, our team identified the right time to start planning this with him.
Chris’ team organised the trip and updated him on all the details, so he felt prepared and involved. His team safely managed his diet and exercise before the holiday, so he could have some extra treats while he was away.
After he jetted off, Chris had the best time and quickly got the itch for another trip. He’s now been on a few holidays with his team and feels grateful to have reached this milestone.
He’s currently preparing to jet off to Tenerife with his support team and some of his housemates! Chris can’t contain his excitement and we’re thrilled to be creating more memories with him.
Chris is thriving
Chris has been on a journey to fulfilment since joining us. He’s more confident and has significantly improved his health and wellbeing.
He understands more clearly why his Prader-Willi syndrome needs to be managed, and he’s motivated to stay active and eat healthily.
He’s also made huge strides with his independence. Taking on volunteering work has taken Chris to the next level and supported him to integrate into his local community.
When it comes to living a fulfilling, independent life, Chris isn’t standing still, and we can’t wait to see what’s next – we’re sure he’ll have many stories of brilliance to share with us soon!
Find out more!
To find out more about our specialist Prader-Willi syndrome support and how we can help you, a client, or a loved one, fill out our quick form and a member of the team will get back to you.