Charlie is a lively, caring, charismatic, young woman who is admired for her wry sense of humour and adventurous ​spirit. Charlie also has autism and spent over ten years in institutional settings where she suffered extensive abuse ​and trauma.

When we were invited to work with Charlie, she was living in a Treatment Unit which she found difficult due to the ​noise, the shared attention of the staff and witnessing the distress of other patients. It was evident that Charlie had ​had limited access throughout her adult life to support directed at engaging her in the community.

Using an Individual Service Fund, LivesthroughFriends identified early on a provider able to work with us and Charlie in developing a Good Life ​Plan and to prepare to support her to live in a house that was found for her in the community. Through her extensive time in institutional ​settings, Charlie had ‘learned’ dependence. This, plus insight from a clinical assessment from Studio 3 that identified how Charlie’s autism ​could best be supported through a low-arousal approach, lead to us applying principles of ‘just enough support’ in developing support ​arrangements for her.

Charlie has been living in her new home for 18 months now. There have been anticipated challenges as she adjusts to living in the community ​after the traumatic years in institutional settings. The team around her have made progress in supporting a range of proactive indoor ​activities, helping Charlie establish a garden and develop her life skills. Key was work done to prepare her community ahead of Charlie moving ​in. Connections were established for her to a local club, church and she got a job at the local community centre. As such, when during the ​transition Charlie has acted out in response to the stress, neighbours have not complained – they have made contact to ask if they can help in ​anyway.

LivesthroughFriends continue to provide training to the team of support practitioners, specifically around building the network of ​relationships around Charlie. The support team are currently using their personal connections to link Charlie to a local stable where she can ​use her gifts around her care for animals in a purposeful way.

Charlie is currently supported on a 2:1 basis whilst we do our best to make that not feel like supervision or control. The goal within the Good ​Life Plan devised for Charlie is to get down to 1:1 staffing during the day. It is forecast that the cost of her support will reduce from nearly ​£400k/year to a little over £200k as the plan progresses and the reduction in staffing achieved.