29.11.2023
Volunteering at Maesteg Welfare Park
An event was held to say thank you to all supporters of the community garden. Sean, who is supported by mirus in Maesteg, and also volunteers in the garden, was there to represent mirus.
Syd spent a lot of time in his house during lockdown, and as a result lost confidence. Once active and outgoing, Syd found himself anxious about socialising with other people after such a long time isolated.
“After spending so much time at home my confidence dropped. I knew that I needed to do something to rebuild it and get my life back.”
mirus staff worked together with Syd to set some goals of things he would like to do, and broke them down into smaller steps to create a plan on how he could achieve them.
His lack of confidence had extended to doing things around his home, so they started small, and initially worked to rebuild Syd’s independent living skills. mirus staff guided Syd as he prepared his own meals and started baking again.
“With a little help my skills soon came back and I even learned some new ones. Now I’m doing things I never thought I’d be able to again.”
Next they moved on to Syd’s bedroom, which had become untidy. Together they went through his things and decided what to keep and what to recycle, and came up with a storage solution to reduce the clutter. Syd is now taking more pride in his home and his surroundings, and is currently saving money to purchase new furniture.
With his home environment sorted, Syd and his mirus staff addressed a more difficult issue; Syd’s social anxiety. Syd and his mirus staff made an activity plan full of community events he found appealing.
“I thoroughly enjoyed being back out and about. I bumped into some old friends I hadn’t seen in a while and it was great to catch up. I’m looking forward to getting out more.”
As a huge Swansea City fan, Syd couldn’t wait to get back out to watch the matches. With support he got in touch with the stadium and asked to have his season ticket seat changed to accommodate his accessibility needs. Syd also joined the Swansea City fan group to meet like minded people and talk about their favourite sport over tea and cake.
Regaining his confidence has had a positive impact on his life, wellbeing, and relationship with partner Maggie. He now has more freedom and independence, and is back to having fun and doing the things that he loves.
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