Andrew’s story

admin — Tue, 10 Sep 2024 02:31:48 +0000

Stepping into our client’s life:

For his entire adult life, Andrew struggled with various mental health challenges. At age 32, he had recently completed an intensive residential treatment program and had even successfully gone through their supported living program. Andrew chose to remain in the same city where his treatment program was located and was still connected to a therapist and psychiatrist there. His parents lived back home (in a different state) and supported Andrew with his first real go at independent living, with the hopes that he would be able to build his competency and confidence so he could eventually move back to his hometown.

As time progressed, his parents felt something was wrong – he did not sound well, and as much as they could discern, he was not keeping his therapy or psychiatrist’s appointments consistently. Clearly he was not happy, but they were also concerned about where this downward cycle would lead. This is when Coach-Mentors was asked to intervene.

How Coach-Mentors helped:

As the coach-mentor got to know Andrew and as he began to trust him, we learned that Andrew had let a “friend” move into his apartment. Andrew was feeling lonely, but he felt it was good to finally have a friend. However, it became clear that the friend was taking advantage of Andrew – taking his car when he wanted to, not returning his keys, becoming domineering of Andrew, and effectively preventing Andrew from getting to his appointments, getting a job, etc. He did not want to lose this friend and thus did not know how to navigate this difficult situation.

Over time and with the support of his coach-mentor, Andrew was able to set limits and regain his apartment and his car. Coach-Mentors helped him re-establish contact with his therapist and psychiatrist, get back on schedule with his medication, and support him in joining a local tennis club, where he worked with a tennis coach and met new people, some of whom became friends.

Andrew also was supported in preparing for a job search, exploring options, preparing his resume and practicing for interviews. Andrew got his desired job working at UPS where he was able to become increasingly financially independent.

He also began to resume regular communication with his parents and reconnected with a social club sponsored by his former treatment center.

Takeaway:

The value of meeting our clients face to face, at home and in the community is evident in Andrew’s case. No one would have known about the predatory roommate without showing up in person and being part of Andrew’s day-to-day life. To his parents’ credit, they allowed us to help Andrew learn how to set his own boundaries and gain control over his life, rather than intervening for him, and that opened the door to the amazing growth Andrew experienced.

Yoga – Coach Mentors

Andrew’s story

Stepping into our client’s life:

How Coach-Mentors helped:

Takeaway: