The love of horse-riding
One of the young people who we have supported, was a young person who had a mental health diagnosis and a history of self-injurious behaviour, who would display bursts of anger. Sadly, her placements had previously broken down very quickly.
At the point she came to us, she was self-harming every day and she was being restrained practically every day. We also discovered she had been excluded from most of the local colleges.
However, by working imaginatively and cooperatively with her, along with organisations, she reached a stage where her self-harming was minimal, and she was never restrained. She attended CAMHS appointments every week and she college four days a week and then horse riding on her free day.
When she first arrived, she had no social network outside of those she knew from her care homes, but she soon established a good network of friends from college and began to play football regularly – was even selected for a local women’s football team that plays at the county championships! Her Social Worker was delighted with her progress and it enabled the social worker to look ahead and make long term future plans for this young person, rather than worrying about the cycle of placement breakdowns.
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