Daniel’s* History
Prior to Daniel’s admission to Langdale House, he was living at his family home. Every aspect of his life was planned and structured and any deviation, no matter how mild, would immediately cause anxieties and heightened behaviours. As a result, he would regularly become physically violent.
The family relationships gradually became strained and the frequency of behaviours increased. Daniel was causing damage to the family home and self-injuring, the family felt they were at crisis point and sought alternative care.
When Daniel came to us
When Daniel moved to Langdale House, he struggled with the changes of moving from his previous routine at home. This resulted in him being violent to staff during periods of heightened anxiety, this was a frequent occurrence.
At first, Daniel would not use the service’s vehicle, this was due to one of his major triggers being road signs. He would spend a large amount of time planning his routes. This had an impact on Daniel, it meant he couldn’t go on holiday as he needed to be within walking distance of a train station.
Another significant trigger for him was his diet. When he joined us he would only eat branded foods, prepared in a certain way, so the consistency, texture and taste remained as similar to him as possible. Under no circumstances would he be anywhere near any fruit or vegetables.
Daniel avoided any daily living tasks including tidying his room and doing the laundry. Any attempts around education would last only minutes before he would tell staff to go away as he found education to be pointless and repetitive.
Daniel’s Care
At Langdale House, we believe that it is essential for individual’s wellbeing to have purpose in their day-to-day life and to learn new skills. Our staff have a variety of bespoke training to meet the needs of the individuals we support and regular review meetings involving the resident, their family and professionals are held. Outcomes are reviewed, new goals are set and as they progress, their support levels are re-assessed.
The team at Langdale House used a consistent, staged desensitisation plan to allow Daniel to build confidence with the things he struggled with. With staff support he progressed to be able to use cars, taxis and buses. The staff learnt of his passion for Christmas so looked into a trip to Lapland to see the ‘Real Father Christmas’. By encouraging him to be involved in every part of the planning, including a short practise flight, he successfully visited Lapland at the beginning of December 2018.
Again by using staged desensitisation, the team were able to teach Daniel additional coping strategies, which means he can now enter the kitchen with foods in sight that previously would have prevented him from entering. He has also began to make quite a number of his own meals with staff support.
Cygnet Health Care run an education project at nearby Oxley Woodhouse, offering ASDAN accredited courses. The team adapted the programme to fit Daniel’s needs and he now has the education project as part of his weekly activity planner, travels there in traffic on the route that he chooses, and is happy going to learn.
Today
Daniel remains settled within Langdale House and is continuing to progress using the strategies that have proved effective. Although some structure remains day to day, new activities have been and continue to be introduced on a gradual basis.
He continues to attend the education project and has recently increased to two sessions per week. With consistency and a positive encouraging approach, he will now engage in helping staff with daily living tasks. His parents visit weekly and are always pleased to see the progression Daniel continues to make.
*Name has been changed to protect his identity
