Cameron’s* History

Cameron grew up in his family home and attended a specialist deaf school. He was first known to mental health services as a teenager after displaying inappropriate behaviours. He continued to require the support of mental health services throughout his teens, and spent time in and out of various hospitals.

He began drinking alcohol at a young age and came into contact with the police early on. He spent time in prison throughout his adult life as a result of multiple offences and convictions, most involving violence. Whilst in prison, he continued to present a risk to others.

In his forties, Cameron was admitted to a high secure hospital where he required frequent seclusion. He was diagnosed with personality disorders, and a suspected learning disability. He was there for a number of years until he showed compliance with medication and incidents started to reduce. He was then assessed as suitable for a move to medium secure.

When he came to us

When Cameron first arrived at Bridge Hampton, his tolerance for frustration or anxiety was low, leading to outbursts of anger that happened frequently. He felt depressed and experienced low mood and thoughts of violence.

Cameron was extremely anxious about leaving the hospital for any reason. He required a lot of support with daily tasks. Self-care, cooking, budgeting and communication were all identified as areas that could be improved with staff support. Cameron communicated using British Sign Language (BSL), but struggled to understand more complex topics and his use of emotional language was limited.

Cameron’s care

The team at Bridge Hampton is made up of both deaf and hearing team members, but we train staff in BSL. The team ensure that the communication needs of each individual are considered, and care plans are presented in an accessible format for each person.

The multi-disciplinary team (MDT) at Bridge Hampton assessed Cameron’s needs and collaboratively created a visual weekly planner of therapeutic activities. He was supported by the speech and language therapist to create a communication grab sheet.

Art therapy was identified as a positive strategy for Cameron, the sessions allowed him to open up about his past experiences. He confided in staff that he was teased for being deaf, and this fuelled his concerns about leaving hospital, especially how he would communicate with others.

Cameron attended psychology sessions that focused on expanding his emotional vocabulary. This supported him to effectively communicate how he was feeling, and therefore, staff could offer the right reassurance or support.

After spending a large portion of his life in secure services, Cameron was understandably overwhelmed by the prospect of leaving the hospital. The team took a staged approach over many months and spent a long period of time working with Cameron to alleviate his fears, taking small steps to achieve his goals. As more time passed, he cancelled less of his leave and his confidence was building.

The occupational therapy team worked with Cameron to improve his daily living skills. He was encouraged to attend regular cooking sessions and learn how to make simple meals. In preparation for discharge planning, the team worked through a budgeting assessment to help Cameron determine what level of support he might need in the future. Following the assessment, Cameron was able to identify that he would need some support with benefits and managing his money.

Cameron has been able to be much more open with staff about his feelings, including some nerves about leaving hospital. He has been working closely with the psychology team to reflect on incidents and understand the links between them and his anxiety.

Cameron today

Recently, Cameron has been open to visiting new community environments, like cafés and a local deaf club. This is helping him to feel more comfortable and expand his support network in preparation for moving on.

Cameron has been to visit a community placement and the staff from this placement are visiting regularly so that they can get to know each other. The team at Bridge Hampton are arranging visits to the places where Cameron will have his future appointments once he is eventually discharged, so that there are less unknowns involved following his move into the community.

Overall, Cameron is still a little nervous about being discharged but, ultimately, is looking forward to moving on. The team hope to continue to build his confidence ahead of his transition.

*Name has been changed to protect his identity