Mia overcomes her shyness and has her say

We first met Mia when she was 18, she was shy and found it difficult to go out to places with lots of people she didn’t know. This has prevented her from socialising, meeting new people and being able to do things on her own.

Angela is a support worker in our Hampshire supported living service and she has supported Mia for six years. She told us: “Mia does get the train to see her family on her own, but generally she’s more comfortable going out and about with staff. She sees her family regularly and loves a shopping trip with her support staff but going anywhere with people she doesn’t know has always been quite a challenge for her.”

We are always trying new ways to support Mia to build her confidence. When Nationwide, the national forum where the people we support have their say about how FitzRoy is run and how we support them, wanted to set up smaller regional forums so more people could get involved, Angela recognised it as a great opportunity for Mia.

“When I heard about the new FitzRoy regional forums for people we support, I thought it sounded like a good chance to build Mia’s confidence up. I asked Mia if she would like to go and she said yes, so we booked our spaces. When we got there, it was all very relaxed and Mia just seemed so comfortable with everyone. Nothing phased her and she was so sociable – she kept chatting to a woman of a similar age sat behind us and making sure she was involved.

“I was really proud of Mia – it was so good to see her chatting with other people, especially in a roomful of people she hadn’t met before. She got on really well when we were working in small groups to come up with a name for the regional forum – and she was so excited when her suggestion, Castle Crew, was the winning one at the end of the day. Mia had such a great time at the regional forum that she now really wants to go to Nationwide, the national meeting, so that’s something to look forward to later in the year.”

Hopefully this newfound confidence with her peers will help develop her confidence in other situations too.

Service manager Flavia said: “It was lovely to see how happy and confident Mia was when she returned home. We will ensure that we support Mia in attending Nationwide and future regional forums, as not only will it give her the chance to make new friends, but also to have her say on how things are done at FitzRoy.”