CASE STUDY | Overwhelmed with anxiety

YP has a diagnosis of ASD and struggles with anxiety. YP gets easily overwhelmed which impacts how they cope in their school environment. YP feels they are misunderstood by peers at school and feels a lot of adults do not understand their feelings.

The Intervention

The goals / support agreed was:

• To gain confidence and self-esteem, join activities in the community and develop new friendships.
• To complete complete 6 1-2-1 sessions with YP. The aim of the intervention was to support YP with becoming ready to integrate socially and encourage them to join activities with Positive Futures and/or activities with other organisations outside of school hours.

   The support provided was:

• Six 1-2-1 support sessions delivered in school covering self-esteem and confidence building
• A timetable of activities that Positive Futures was discussed with YP to see which sessions they would like to join
• Discussed activities that YP is interested in joining in the community and encouraged them to participate.

Outcomes

• The results of My Mind Star from the first session to the last had improved, showing an increase in all areas of YP’s mental health and wellbeing. Though YP still struggles with schoolwork, they feel a lot more confident in their school environment and has shown a capability to distance themself from negative friendships and developed the ability to put their own needs before others.
• YP is looking to start attending Mother’s Dough Culinary and 4 Corners Boxing Gym, as well as possibly attend Positive Futures activities.
• YP was able to discuss their difficult feelings around body image, struggles with friendships and strained family relationships. We explored these difficult feelings/emotions and created a safe, healthy way YP could express themself when feeling overwhelmed.
• YP had a positive female role model to build rapport and discuss her difficulties with.
• YP now feels more confident in addressing difficult emotions and discussing these with their mum and friends.
• YP expressed excitement in joining activities and thanked Positive Futures for helping make this happen.

“I feel less awkward telling my mum things now and I feel more confident that my friends understand how I feel.”

Quote from YP