“I help Bill plan meals so that he gets a healthy, well balanced diet … he is coping admirably”
I was approached by JustPeople in July 2010 asking if I would be interested in supporting and mentoring an ex offender who had recently been released from jail on licence. The individual concerned is accommodated in a local Probation Service hostel. I readily agreed to the task because it seemed interesting, challenging and an opportunity to make a significant difference to someone’s life. For the purpose of this piece, I’ll call him Bill*.
In recovery
Firstly, a three way meeting was arranged between Bill, his Probation Officer and me. This was to discuss Bill’s needs, prioritise the areas in which I could help and support him and to set some concrete rules regarding our collaboration.
Bill has spent a great deal of his adult life institutionalised and he is currently recovering from alcoholism and drug addiction. He regularly attends Narcotics Anonymous and is working extremely hard, with support from various agencies, to overcome his problematic past. Bill also has learning difficulties especially in literacy and numeracy so reading, understanding and the completion of forms presents a problem as does handling money.
Towards Independence
My involvement with Bill has been to support him in moving towards independent living so that he can take his place in society, eventually gain employment and be able to fully support himself. The first assistance I was able to give Bill was to help him to open a savings account. This was done through the Post Office and involved me helping Bill fill out the application form and produce the required personal documentation. Bill’s Giro is now paid into the account fortnightly and he has a card to withdraw his money.
Bill was also very concerned about his oral health so I managed, on his behalf, to access a dentist which was taking on NHS patients, not an easy task! I then helped Bill to complete a medical questionnaire and make an appointment. Unfortunately, Bill attended the appointment in a poor frame of mind and things didn’t go as planned. After an altercation with the dentist he was asked to leave the surgery and a lot of good work was undone without any progress. That incident was frustrating for all concerned but after a second three way meeting Bill realised that his behaviour was unacceptable and promised to control his emotions to avoid a similar outcome.
Healthy eating
The Probation hostel where Bill is accommodated has a number of different units and Bill has made excellent progress from a single fully supported room, where all his needs are met to a self contained unit where he buys his own food, cooks and cleans for himself. The area that I feel I’ve been most helpful to Bill is in budgeting and shopping for food. I take Bill supermarket shopping once a fortnight and work with him to remain within his shopping budget. I have also involved Bill in meal planning so that he gets a healthy, well balanced diet and he is coping admirably.
So far I have enjoyed my work with Bill and have struck up a good rapport with him through gaining his trust and not being too judgemental when things don’t go as planned. If he feels he needs it, I hope to continue supporting Bill when he eventually moves on from the Probation hostel to live independently.
*Names have been changed and models used for photographs
