A young person with multiple barriers has made huge progress with the support of the amazing team at Newquay Orchard on Yep!  They were the perfect partner to support her with small steps towards her goals of meeting other young people, developing some independence and growing in confidence.

She is hearing impaired and has severe learning difficulties so needed a support worker in order to access the Wellbeing Sessions which she joined in April of this year.

Her goals were to socialise with other young people and develop independent skills such as cooking and gardening.

The weekly Wellbeing Sessions focus on nature connectedness as a way of improving wellbeing as well as encouraging socialisation, confidence building and independence skills.

She began joining in with group activities and socialising within the group. She particularly enjoyed cooking and learning to sow seeds and press flowers. Initially she attended with a support worker who helped her to join in with different activities as she could often get tired and need breaks, they also offered her assistance with her mobility and communication.

On the last session of the year, her support worker was not available, but she still wanted to come along. She discussed this with her mum, and they decided she would try and attend without that support. Her mum dropped her off, and stayed nearby, walking the dog. When she arrived, she felt confident enough to stay on her own unsupported and felt comfortable enough at The Orchard to take this step. Whilst she seemed a little nervous at the start of the session,  she managed to make herself heard in group conversations and took part in the weeding activity and got stuck in! This was a massive step for her, one that was facilitated by the comfort of a familiar group and familiar settings.  A huge step in developing her independence.

“My favourite thing about the wellbeing sessions is cooking and doing things I’ve not done before such as planting tomatoes. I’ve learned how to press flowers and increased my interest in being in nature.”