A Support Coordinator describes how they work with partners to provide the right kind of support.
I would like to shine a spotlight on two delivery partners who have provided excellent, trauma-informed support to Callum, one of the survivors I work with. When I started working with Callum, one of his outcomes was to be a good role model for his daughter, Claire. Claire had been struggling at school due to her dyslexia and seeing Claire have difficulties at school caused Callum to reflect on his own experiences of education. He wanted to teach his daughter that education is important.
Together we explored some options and Callum decided that he wanted to work with Cellfield UK to address his literacy challenges while supporting Claire to do the same. The Cellfield programme usually involves daily computer-based sessions at the University of Stirling for two weeks, following by 10 weeks of planned reading.
‘When I started working with Callum, one of his outcomes was to be a good role model for his daughter.’
Callum had been working with another delivery partner, the Community Brokerage Network, who helped him to explore the practicalities of Claire taking time away from school, as well as travel and expenses. The Community Brokerage Network then reached out to Cellfield UK to discuss Callum’s and Claire’s needs.
Both partners recognised that the distance that Callum and Claire needed to travel to attend the sessions was a significant barrier to them engaging with the service, so they worked together to mitigate this. Rather than delivering sessions over two weeks, they created a programme over one week and arranged to deliver the programme at Callum’s local library.
‘It took time for Callum to build trust in these partners, but the outcome of their work together has been inspiring.’
It took time for Callum to build trust in these partners, but the outcome of their work together has been inspiring. Having completed this course, Callum’s reading age has increased from 9 to 14 and he now feels more confident with identifying words. Perhaps most importantly, the experience has enabled Callum and Claire to develop their relationship, and has prompted Callum to consider longer term, aspirational goals such as attending college. This would not have been possible without these delivery partners recognising the importance of adjusting practice according to survivors’ needs, and taking the time to build a trsuting relationship with Callum.
