It would be fair to say Steven still has some way to go but the progress he has made has been striking and it’s right to celebrate how far he has come to date.
When he came to Wings Cumbria as a 14-year-old, Steven had a Section 31 legal status and was diagnosed with PTSD. With severe emotional, social and behavioural difficulties, the youngster had difficulty in developing or maintaining friendships, had a history of going missing, self-harm, suicidal thoughts and drug taking.
This has led to him showing poor concentration and being disengaged with education, he was disruptive within the classroom and had significant anger management difficulties. He was also very anxious, which could lead to his being very verbally and physically aggressive towards others.
Steven had assaulted others and there had been several cases of aggression resulting in charges of ABH. Having caused significant injury to an adult, Steven had spent 3 months in secure provision before coming to Wings Cumbria.
The school was considered ideal for supporting him in the least possible restrictive environment due to its ethos, strong boundaries and successes in working with young people with similar histories to Steven, helping them achieve the best possible outcomes for them.
This young man had a very troubled start to his life including the death of his mother at a very young age and this contributed to him, despite being predicted to achieve A-levels, stopping going to school and his receiving an SEN statement.
Since coming to Wings we have worked with Steven on anger management strategies, including “safe space” for time to calm and to prevent escalation of anxiety or conflict, staying safe, self-esteem and promotion of his self-worth and appropriate trusting relationships have been established.
We have also worked with Steven on risk management, promotion of health and he has attended workshops on the effects of drug taking. He has had regular sessions with our in-house clinical psychologist and as a result Steven has become re-engaged within education.
The team here at Wings Cumbria have worked with the young person particularly around his emotional self-management and appropriate relationships with adults and peers. Direct work was carried been carried out with key workers, the school nurse, clinical team and other outside agencies to make the young person aware of the risks and consequences of his behaviour.
Along with this targets were set for the young person, achievements celebrated and his self-worth strongly promoted both through the home and school. This work continues to be carried out to further improve his life chances.
Steven has also been encouraged to engage in sporting activities including joining the school football team which allows him to interact positively within peer group settings.
Some of the outcomes this young man has achieved include:
- He has established positive relationships with a number of adults. He now follows direction without becoming aggressive or overly defensive and there has been little need for physical intervention.
- He has now re-engaged in education and is attending all of his lessons whilst talking about possible opportunities for him to progress post 16 into further education.
- There have been few aggressive outbursts toward staff and other young people.
- His self-esteem seems greatly improved and he appears much more calm and in good spirits.
- He now regularly representing the school in sporting competitions and is thinking about possible sporting opportunities as he now accepts that he has natural talent as a football player.
- Although there are still some issues his behaviour when at home , this has been reported to have improved significantly. He has also not been involved in criminal activity when at home.
- As his confidence and self-esteem has grown he is now much more able to interact with his peers appropriately which has allowed him to build genuine friendships.
Steven now attends school every day where he is working hard to make good progress academically. He is developing his independence skills within the house and within the community.
Although there are still some issues with him following direction without fuss and his use of inappropriate language the positive progress that he is now making is fantastic. We’re delighted to have had feedback from his Grandmother that she believes Wings Cumbria has had a positive impact on her Grandson’s life.