A happy Christmas for Rupan

Before FitzRoy, Rupan was living in a secure unit for 20 years, where he was isolated, far away from his family, with nothing to do – he was often medicated to control his behaviour.

He rarely went out, only on walks in local and isolated woodland, where he was accompanied by four staff, as he was perceived to be a danger to himself and to others. When the unit was closed down, Rupan moved to a FitzRoy home instead – and had a home worth the name for the first time in over 20 years.

When I first met him he was living in the middle of nowhere in a place that felt like a prison. He’d not been out in the community for over 20 years. He had no purpose to life, he had no basic skills or communication. The staff told me he was dangerous. He was segregated and isolated, he showed no emotions. His only form of communication was to self-harm. I felt so emotional. I thought about him a lot as it would be a risk taking him on, however I knew we could do this, I had a good team and FitzRoy to support me.

I wanted to show Rupan that he is a person who can live a fulfilled life, he is somebody. I wanted us to build his blank canvas to a fulfilled colourful one.

Today Rupan is loving life!! He is currently exploring the whole of UK, from Birmingham to Leicester, London and Coventry, on the bus and train. He goes shopping and chooses what he wants and refuses what he doesn’t. He is talking, learning new vocabulary all the time.

He is independent in his home, contributes to tidying his home, cooking, cleaning and loves mopping – he enjoys it and will sing as staff support him.
I am currently looking at a short overnight stay in the new year for him.

When you ask Rupan, “Are you happy?” He says “Yesses!!” And has a big grin.

When we had his recent psychiatric review, the psychiatric consultant couldn’t believe he was so happy, no incidents, no self-harm for over 7 months now.

Nithy, Rupan’s sister said:

“When he came to supported living I was a bit worried how he would accept this new surroundings as he is used to being closed in especially with his previous residence where he was mostly indoors and there was limited activity and stimulation, but he soon settled in wonderfully and at FitzRoy they are really supportive and encouraged him conduct his daily routine given him a new sense of being independent. He has also been regularly going into the community and mixes with the community. I was shocked, but the team at FitzRoy had the confidence and enthusiasm and believed in Rupan to support him with achieving his goals and this has had a positive impact on him and his wellbeing as he is more happy and relaxed. I would love to thank and praise the staff at Fitzroy for their wonderful support.”

You can read more about Rupan, and how we have supported him in our latest edition of FitzRoy News

We are so proud of everything he has achieved, and grateful to Elaine in the positive behavioural support team for her advice and tactics for enabling us to make Rupan’s new life the best it can be for him.

Elaine leads a team of three PBS practitioners who work across our services. They carry out in-depth assessments, and provide training, guidance, and interventions to improve the quality of life of the people we support. They also contribute to knowledge sharing interest groups including the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapy and BILD – making sure they are at the forefront of developing practice and leading on ensuring our staff, and Rupan and the hundreds of other people we support at FitzRoy all benefit from this enhanced, person centred care.

Best wishes

Abi

Service Manager, Birmingham Supported Living

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