Kim's Story

Kim fled domestic violence with her three children and approached her local council in June to make a homelessness application. The family were placed in temporary accommodation until September, at which point they were offered an introductory tenancy. During this time, Kim was very depressed, suffered from anxiety and was struggling to cope with her youngest son who had recently been diagnosed with autism.

Kim did not have any motivation to take control of her current situation.

Kim received support from a Complex Needs Support Worker within the Rutland Community Wellbeing Service to ensure that moving into her new home was a smooth transition. The Complex Needs Support Worker ensured that the family had white goods for when they moved in to the property and supported the family in ensuring that their existing furniture was moved over successfully.

Additionally, the Support Worker helped Kim to deal with any outstanding bills from her previous property, as well as set up the utilities within her new tenancy.

Once Kim’s immediate tenancy issues were addressed, the Support Worker supported Kim to enroll on to the ‘Freedom Programme’ (a resource for domestic violence victims) and a referral was also completed to the ‘Let’s Talk Wellbeing’ Counselling Service.

With this support in place, Kim was able to focus on other issues within the family home. Kim wished to access advice around family disputes, which was provided by Citizens Advice Rutland’ and the youngest son is now accessing ‘Aiming High’ activities, which has been a huge help to Kim as it offers periods of respite which further enables her to support her son.

When support began, Kim would emotionally breakdown on most visits but, due to the holistic support she has received from the Complex Needs Support Worker within the Rutland Community Wellbeing Service, the family have settled in to their new property well and Kim now has the confidence to enroll herself into Adult Education to complete her Maths and English qualifications, which will enable her to access the job market in the near future.