Today was possibly one of the most rewarding experiences I have encountered as a support worker. I went to visit E, one of my service users, at her home and got to meet her new born baby for the very first time. E was glowing and introduced me to her baby girl. E was full of life and told me about her plans to start driving lessons in order to gain more independence for herself and her daughter.
Things haven’t always been this way for E. Little over a year ago, she was rough sleeping, injecting heroin and drinking alcohol at a problematic level. She often dipped in and out of prostitution to support her habits. Being vulnerable E became involved in an abusive relationship and on one occasion her partner threatened to chop her into pieces if she ever left him. E’s lifestyle was incredibly chaotic, she had very low self-worth and on several occasions she was found near dead and taken to hospital by ambulance.
Things began to change for E following an argument with her partner. She made the decision to walk away from him, but like so many women who sleep rough she soon became involved in another relationship and this time she fell pregnant. Both E and her new partner were still using heroin and drinking at the beginning of her pregnancy. I continued to look for her on street outreach sessions, hoping I could catch up with her in order to offer her support. E and her partner moved to live with her partner’s mother although they both found it too difficult to stop using heroin and early into E’s pregnancy her partner was arrested and received a 2 year prison sentence. E continued to live with her partner’s mother who was supportive of the pregnancy. When I was able to catch up with her she told me how keen she was to change her lifestyle and she sounded determined to do whatever it would take. Even though E was now effectively housed, there was still so much work to do to secure the future for her and her baby.
The first steps to making these changes involved getting E linked in with the necessary support services and so I attended Leeds Addiction Unit with her, where she was given treatment for alcohol withdrawal. As E already has a child who is cared for by her Auntie, social services became involved immediately. E was very wary of meeting with social services as they had already removed her first child from her care several years ago. We had many discussions about the benefits of engaging with social services, and eventually she realised it would be in her best interests to do so.
Social services had many concerns about E’s ability to look after her child. E was already feeling a lot of pressure from her family and Leeds Addiction Unit, and now she had the added pressure of satisfying her social worker and proving herself as a fit parent. To do so E was required to attend 6 appointments with social services, in order for them to complete a pre-birth assessment and make a decision regarding the welfare of the unborn child. As her support worker I became involved with her assessment and supported her through the social services appointments which she found incredibly difficult and emotional. She still has a lot of guilt about losing her first child and finds this difficult on a day to day basis. I had some intensive 1-2-1 sessions with E, in which I would encourage her to take credit for the progress she was already making, encouraging reflective conversations about what she felt she had not managed well with her first child and also encouraging her to think about how she could make things work this time around. Through these conversations both E and I were able to gain a deeper understanding of her behaviour and create a plan of positive ways to address this. E believed with her first birth she may have suffered from undiagnosed post natal depression and she also identified that she felt very isolated whilst she was a new mother, which possibly added to her depression. Being aware of the importance of her mental health as an influential factor during her recovery and we made plans to link in with services such as Homestart and the local children’s centre to stop her from feeling isolated. We also identified several people that she could talk openly on an on-going basis about her mental health.
E made some excellent progress but she would often mention to me her fears about relapsing. She was concerned about mentioning these fears to a lot of agencies and family members, so together we continued to discuss how she could manage these. I encouraged her to talk openly about her fears to me and how to use these in a positive way. By recognising her fears and being aware of risky situations that may cause her to relapse, E was gaining more self- awareness and beginning to find solutions for herself. We spent a lot of time talking about relapse prevention and E began to understand how finding solutions could be empowering for her.
E went on to have her baby in January of this year and social services are delighted with how she has managed everything and how she is continuing to gain confidence every day. In reality E is still fairly new to recovery and with the pressure of parenthood there is still a high risk of relapse. I will continue to work intensively on a 1-2-1 basis with her until she feels confident enough to manage her life independently. It has been a wonderful experience to watch somebody blossom and turn their life around, however, should everything go wrong for E, Simon on the Streets will remain committed to supporting her on to the path she wants to be on. This is where our independence and our ability to work with someone without time limitations really proves it’s worth. E’s recovery is about so much more than simply a place to lay her head. E has worked so very hard to be able to keep her child and be a mother to her and I am proud that we have been able to support her in every way that she has needed us to.
Happy Mother’s Day E.