Age UK Islington Navigator helps client in his 30s rebuild hope

Navigation case worker, Jenny provided support to a man in his 30's who was seeking housing and foodbank support. He was referred for support to Age UK Islington by Adult Social Care. 

Help with lack of money and mobility issues

Exceptional circumstances had left Tony with no money.  On one occasion his gas utility company took a massive payment from his bank which left him with no financial means to buy food and he had to seek foodbank support. He had also experienced multiple bereavements which required unexpected expenses – from funeral costs to flights. 

When Jenny first started working with him he was feeling really low. Until he was hit with a health condition that affected his mobility, he ran his own business.  Since his decline in health, he had not been able to work and he was still coming to terms with this.   

His lack of mobility meant that he was restricted in terms of what he could do for himself – he was struggling to look after his home and to go out to do food shopping.  Adult social services had arranged for carers to come in and help, but he found it disruptive and intrusive.  He was then reliant on friends to shop for him or go to the food bank, but this was ad hoc and not reliable.   

Building trust, helping to sort out mobility issues and reliable food provision

Jenny worked with Tony over a 3 month period.  He was initially wary, having felt let down by services before, but as the weeks passed, Jenny built up a rapport with him. 

Jenny worked with Tony to prioritise his needs, the first thing to put in place was to ensure that he had a means of getting food. They discussed options and he decided that he would prefer his friends to help him get regular shopping rather than support from social services. 

He was mostly spending his time in his small flat.  He uses crutches to get around his flat and would use them to try and get down the stairs to go out. His health condition meant that 9 times out of 10 when leaving his flat he would end up falling.  On more than one occasion he ended up in hospital because of his injuries.  Jenny helped him to apply to the council housing register for a housing transfer to a ground floor flat. Unfortunately, he was allocated a limited number of housing points despite his mobility problems. Jenny helped him to seek legal advice and to write to his MP for his case to be reconsidered.   

Jenny helped Tony to apply for grants to get some furniture including a bed.  Prior to this he was sleeping on cushions on the floor. With his health conditions, he was in a lot of pain and having a bed meant that he was able to be more comfortable and sleep better as a result. This helped with both his physical and mental health.  

Jenny referred him to REACH.  Physiotherapists worked with him, putting together exercises to build up his strength to help with mobility.  They have an excellent relationship with Tony, and he is continuing to work with them. 

Tony’s family all live abroad and he is quite isolated.  Having worked in a very sociable job, his current situation made this much harder for him to cope with. Jenny linked him into the Crisis team to provide emotional support and on a practical footing, helped him apply for a taxicard and freedom pass to help him get out and about. This was crucial as he was now engaging with several services for support.

Rebuilding hope for the future 

His dream is to go back into employment. When Jenny first met with him, he was mourning the loss of the life he used to have and lacked hope for the future. Since supporting Tony with the above issues he is starting to think about being able to go back into employment. Whilst he realises he is unlikely to return to his previous job, Jenny has encouraged him to think about developing an idea he has for a product that could be useful within his industry and has linked him into a service that could support him to get his idea off the ground. Jenny said that "It feels like there has been a definite change in his mood and his outlook in the last few conversations". 

Age UK Islington provided Tony with two periods of support over six months and continue to monitor how he is via three monthly Wellbeing Calls.

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