Amanda B was always a social person who enjoyed trips out but had been battling with Agoraphobia and hadn’t left her home since Nov 2015.
Knowing how much Amanda had previously enjoyed trips our, the team engaged with mental health professionals to better understand the condition and to develop a plan that could allow Amanda to lead a fuller life once again. The staff engaged Amanda with a graded exposure approach, which started with encouraging Amanda to spend time sat in the van in the car park with the door to the van and the door to the house open so that she could feel in control of the time spent outside the house. Some days were incredibly successful, other days less so, but the team worked with Amanda to keep momentum building. This has developed over four months to having the doors of the van shut and the ignition switched as Amanda’s confidence increased.
On Friday 19th May Amanda decided she wanted to go out into her community for the first time in over two years. Amanda chose a local restaurant as the destination for her first trip, and gained such confidence that she has been out nearly every day since.
The staff worked incredibly hard – encouraging Amanda whilst allowing her to go at her own pace – and feel an enormous sense of achievement seeing how happy Amanda is when in the community.