Isla’s journey to finding confidence and communicating her needs.

Before Isla started working with Young Gloucestershire she felt anxious to leave the home and feared travelling in the car. This meant school felt out of reach for her, and her family found it hard to complete daily tasks. Isla’s first session was in school where she presented as panicked and used non-verbal communication. After speaking with Isla’s Mum, the decision was made to have sessions in Isla’s safe space so that she could get the most out of support. The next session took place in Isla’s favourite place, her allotment; Isla felt confident enough to show her youth worker the animals and chatted about what she wanted to do. Isla’s youth worker commented on how she was a completely different person than to what was seen in school. It was clear that Isla needed her sessions to be adapted into the environment where she felt most comfortable.

As support continued, Isla learnt techniques to communicate her needs, and how to indicate when she felt uncomfortable. This helped Isla when engaging in conversations about school. Isla was able to identify that she did not feel comfortable returning to school which supported the EHCP application, and helped her family and professionals understand what she will need in the future.