Rachael’s story
Discover Rachael's story at one of our Priory Supported Living Kent services.
Rachael lives at one of our Priory Supported Living Kent services, here she has her own flat and tenancy with a housing provider.
When Rachael’s needs changed, her care team worked to find solutions to enhance her quality of life.
Rachael is known to be a bubbly, outgoing person, who had previously loved socialising and regularly accessing the community, often to have her hair coloured and her nails painted. Over a period of time, Rachael’s care team noticed that she had started to become more socially withdrawn and began to refuse to leave her flat or engage in activities that she usually would love to do.
The team at Priory Supported Living Kent became very worried by the changes in behaviour and quickly consulted the multidisciplinary team. Rachael received support from a variety of professionals, including a physiotherapist, who identified that her mobility had deteriorated. It was suggested that she may have an injury, which was causing her to not want to go down stairs.
Responding to Rachael’s changing needs
At the time, the team at Priory Supported Living were already in the process of reviewing the environments for each tenant at the service, with the view to develop new ground floor accommodation to meet long-term needs. Rachael was immediately highlighted as someone who could benefit from a move to a ground-floor flat.
This possibility was discussed by everyone involved in Rachael’s care, including her case manager and various professionals. After much discussion, and the formulation of a proposed plan to facilitate the move, it was unanimously decided that a change in accommodation would be in Rachael’s best interests.
Achieving positive outcomes at Priory Supported Living Kent
Rachael was supported with her anxieties through the whole process, with her care team regularly talking to her about it, showing her photographs of the property and providing reassurance that the new home at Kitewell Lane would not have stairs. The transition went smoothly, and the improvement in Rachael’s wellbeing was immediately evident.
Within just hours of moving in, Rachael was already spending time in the garden and interacting with the other tenants. Rachael is already in much better spirits and is happily accessing the community again, having already successfully attended appointments at the hairdressers and the nail salon.
Everyone at Priory Supported Living Kent is ecstatic that Rachael’s transition to her new bungalow flat has been so successful, and are proud of Rachael for how well she has adjusted to this big change in her life.
I was almost brought to tears seeing how happy Rachael was in her new environment. This is what it is all about, and I couldn’t be happier to see her back to her old self.