Coming Home: Rian’s Story
Rian is a young man from Edinburgh who has Autism and has always been described by doctors as ‘complex’. Before being supported by Carr Gomm, Rian’s social workers and psychiatrist predicted that the best Rian could hope for was a life where he was safe inside of his home.
With hard work, perseverance and a lot of banter, Rian has proved them wrong and now lives the life that everyone said he couldn’t. He lives in his own home, is involved in his community, enjoys regular family visits and lives a life of his own – determined by what he wants to do.
But how did Rian get to this point?
‘You want somebody to live their life and have all these experiences – which we can support with. All the things that these people said that Rian would never be able to do, we supported him to do.’ – Craig Purves, Service Manager
Before Carr Gomm
When Rian was almost 13, he experienced a significant deterioration in his mental health and, after a physical incident involving a family member, a prolonged period of significant distress and a manic episode, emergency social work services took the decision that it wasn’t safe for him to live at home.
Rian was put on a compulsory treatment order which he remained on for 11 months and was initially placed in an adult unit, before moving to a young person’s unit at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital.
In March 2015 it was decided that it would not be safe for Rian to live in a regular home environment. It was explained to his family that because there is no facilities or schools in Edinburgh for children like Rian that he would be sent elsewhere.
Initially, Rian’s family was told that this was Newcastle. An application was also made to a school in Glasgow with residential facilities. Rian’s application was accepted in Glasgow, and he started in that school in June 2015.
Here, Rian lived in a purpose built house with four other boys, all with different support needs. His family would visit but it didn’t feel like a proper visit, as staff were always present in the living room and it wasn’t safe or possible to take him out in the community alone.
This place did not work for Rian. He would be forcibly restrained if he was displaying behaviour that challenged his staff team, he’d run away from staff, couldn’t go out shopping, and was isolated from his family.
By the time he was 16 he was no longer engaging in the education provision, and his care provider gave notice that they could no longer meet his needs.
Rian’s family was advised to look for alternative care.
With Carr Gomm
Rian’s family wanted him to come home to Edinburgh. Through their careful research, and with support from advocacy services, they found Carr Gomm.
Rian’s Mum felt instantly that this was going to be the best and only option for Rian to stay 100% in Edinburgh and to have as much of a normal relationship with his family as possible.
‘Carr Gomm’s achieved what they couldn’t for Rian…he’s in a more stable place now. Everything from day one has been centered around what’s best for Rian.’ – Rian’s Mum
Rian’s Support Practitioner at the time, Craig Purves, shared that ‘Rian was different from anybody that we were currently supporting. His communication was different, his personal care needs were different, his support needs were different. This took the team a while to kind of get to know him, to build that trust, and for him to be comfortable, for us to find a way to best support Rian.’
Rian and his support team worked hard together to grow trust, confidence in each other and to discover the best way to communicate with each other. As Rian’s Support Practitioners learnt how Rian wanted to – and liked to communicate – they found that Rian’s communication challenges began to fade.
Now, when Rian has periods of time where he is non-verbal, staff are able to use sign language that they have learnt from Rian to communicate with him.
Rian has been supported by Carr Gomm for four years now, and within this time he has proved his social workers and psychiatrist wrong.
Carr Gomm’s person centered approach has allowed Rian to flourish – he is an active member of his community, enjoys regular family visits and lives in his own home where he has choice, control and autonomy.
‘We’ve tried things and learned and adapted along the way because we believed that Rian was entitled to more, and that we could support him to live a life of his own. Rian is now living the life that everyone said he couldn’t.’– Craig Purves, Service Manager
At Carr Gomm, our expert group, ATLAS (Autism Training, Learning, and Support), provides information, training and guidance to teams across the organisation and adds value to the work of individual practitioners to ensure we can support people to live a full and meaningful life they choose. Find out more about how we support people with Autism here.
