In October 2018, VOICES received a referral from the social work team at the Meir Hub to work together on a case for a Mrs B who had been a long-term client. Mrs B had been known to the team for several years and has a long-term history of mental health issues.

Mrs B believes that meteor strikes were imminent on earth and this would result in the end of the world. As a result, she was preparing for this by storing old stagnant water, food, clothes, blankets etc. She had therefore been referred to the social work team by a housing officer at her local authority because he’d been unable to get her to declutter her house to complete the relevant gas safety and electrical tests.

Furthermore, Mrs B had been taken ill and was admitted into hospital. Following her discharge from hospital she went to live with a family member who was alcohol dependent and in very low mood. This meant they were unable to care for her and then began to financially take advantage.

VOICES received a call from Mrs B asking for help to remove her from her family members house because of this, and so worked with the social care team to place her into respite care during the Christmas period. Because of this Mrs B’s service coordinator was able to build a strong relationship with Mrs B.

This allowed Mrs B’s service coordinator to support in rectifying her disability living allowance benefit, which had been utilised by her family member to obtain a car. Therefore, Mrs B’s service coordinator supported her to get the car returned and was able to assist with getting her DLA payments reinstated. Because of this Mrs B then agreed to pay for a clean up of her property and have her back garden cleared of rubbish as request by the council. This allowed Mrs B and her service coordinator to organise for the gas and electrical safety tests on her home. Moreover, Mrs B was able to arrange for a new kitchen and bathroom installation by the council which were over 30 years old.

Mrs B’s Service coordinator has referred her to a CPN in order to establish how we can support going forward. VOICES also continue to support her to carry out community activities such as attending day care centre’s and so on. She has now returned home and is coping well. Mrs B is safe, comfortable and is receiving sufficient ongoing support.