Building and maintaining relationships is crucial for good mental health and accessing the community. For people with a learning disability there can be barriers to building these relationships. At Thera we believe it is essential to support people to build these relationships within their local communities. This story explains exactly why building these relationships is important and the profound effect it can have on people.
Liam is a young man who is supported to live independently in his own home by Thera South West. We have been supporting him for about two years.
Liam didn’t have many opportunities to socialise with peers his own age so Debbie, his Community Support Leader, supported him in meeting two other individuals also supported by Thera South West, including a gentleman named Dean.
They started playing Boccia together on a Monday and play football and basketball on Thursdays. Since they began attending, the three men have bonded and become good friends. Liam regularly accepts an invitation to go to Dean’s house on Sunday for a roast dinner and a walk, and they also meet up every Tuesday at Liam’s request.
The young men have decided that they want to go on holiday together and have started to plan a trip to Butlins, which they are all very excited for.
Accessing activities in the community, building relationships, and getting regular physical exercise has had a phenomenally positive effect on Liam’s life and he is much happier.
This story is another example of how Thera’s personalised approach to support and focus on helping people to build relationships and access activities in their community can have a huge impact on their health and wellbeing.
We also hope Liam and his friends have a fantastic holiday to Butlins!