Gateway Family Services
Changing Lives, Changing Services.
We work to improve health, develop skills and opportunities and fight inequalities. We change the way public services work.
Colette Talks About Supporting Clients with Behaviour Change
Colette was supporting a client who was using drugs and alcohol. Her dad had been an alcoholic and her mum left the family when she was very young. She also had a brother who was using drugs.
After her dad died she took over the tenancy of what had been the family home for 30 years. It had never been decorated or had a repair in that time so was in a bit of a state.
Colette visited the client on a weekly basis. She has a lot of issues to deal with so Colette broke them down in to small chunks and dealt with them based on the clients need.
Colette supported her to attend appointments both medical and social, she would meet her at the hospital or at case conferences. When they were at core group meetings the client and her partner would get upset when everyone was talking about their case. They were at risk of Social Services removing the baby at birth.
Colette worked hard to get the housing to fix the repairs such as, fitting a new kitchen, installing a new boiler and getting the steps at the front of the house repaired.
Once the repairs had been done the couple started to redecorate and this is when Colette started to see a change taking place. The client’s partner went into rehab and she stopped using drugs and alcohol. They have kept their baby and would not have achieved this without Colette’s help.
19 and Pregnant with Twins.
I was supporting a 19 year old young woman who was having twins. Her boyfriend had moved on and she was living in a one bedroom house that had no carpet, the walls were just plastered, no wallpaper or anything. Because she was a single parent, having twins and living in that condition she was worried about what the midwife, health visitors and maybe even social services would think of her.
She didn’t even have a cooker although she had lived there for about a year. She told me that she had been told that the connection for the cooker would cost money that she didn’t have so she sold the cooker and bought a microwave. It turned out that she was told wrong.
Because she had no cooker she was eating out of the chippy and she had gone off certain food because she was pregnant. Cooking in the microwave meant that she had a limited choice of food and this resulted in her being referred to a dietitian because she was losing weight. However, because she didn’t have a cooker she couldn’t be supported by the dietitian because they do meal planning and cooking in the home. She was not gaining weight and one of the babies was not growing. Because of this she was induced at about 36 weeks.
City Mission got a cooker for her but she couldn’t afford the £30 so I contacted Buttle UK to get her some financial help to buy the cooker. I asked for a cooker and washing machine but due to financial situation in this country she could only have one or the other and she chose the cooker. When she got the cooker she was really pleased and she said ‘It’s the first time I’ve cooked a proper dinner in this house’.
When she first moved in her and her boyfriend were stripping the walls because they wanted to redecorate. The walls were coming off with the paper. She spoke to her housing officer who told her to carry on stripping to see what the walls looked like. She did this and was then told they would only fix the chimney breast. I took photos of the house and sent those to the housing with a letter. They still said they would only do one wall. I wrote another letter and eventually they did the front room and the bedroom.
Because the walls have been done now, her friends have helped her to decorate, her Uncle gave her money to buy some carpet. So by the time the babies came along she had a comfortable little home around her. I referred her to family support not because she needed help with the babies but just so that someone could speak on her behalf nad to support her with her housing.
Jacque James tells us how the POW service helps pregnant women
To celebrate International Women’s Day, Pregnancy Outreach Worker, Jacque James, tells us how she is able to support women in all areas of their health and wellbeing during their pregnancy, from housing to diet.
Sometimes, just being there to offer some support is enough….
Volunteers make all the difference to heart patients
Volunteers are making a real difference to how well heart patients stick with their recovery programmes. In a new initiative, Gateway volunteers have joined up with the cardio team at University Hospital Birmingham to support patients as they get well. Kate Gee, a nurse consultant for coronary heart disease at University Hospital Birmingham, describes how volunteering helps the patients – and the volunteers.
People Trafficking
I have worked at Gateway for nearly five years. During that time I have worked on all the services including the Pregnancy Outreach Worker Service.
I remember a number of clients who it turned out had been trafficked into this country to be used as prostitutes. Two people in particular stand out in my mind. One was a young girl who had been trafficked from Africa. She was only 19 years old when we met her. She had left her country when she was 14 years old. Once she reached England she was forced to sleep with men every day. The men never used condoms and when she fell pregnant she found out she was HIV+. It was a really difficult time for her. It was a lot to get her head around.
This young woman had a Pregnancy Outreach Worker who was also African. She didn’t come from the same country but there was some common ground. They worked together and the young woman was given a flat to live in, the Pregnancy Outreach Worker carried on supporting her throughout her pregnancy and after the birth of her child.
Fortunately the baby was not HIV+ and mum and baby have gone on to live a happier life.
The other young woman was from China. She was a young teenager. When she got pregnant she was left at a Social Services office by the woman who was handling her. Because she was pregnant she was no longer any use to the sex traffickers.
She had been trafficked by Chinese mafia. She would not disclose anything about them or how she came to the country because she was concerned about her Grandmother who she had left behind. She was so worried about her Grandmother that she kept in touch with her traffickers by mobile and returned to them after the baby was born. That was the last we heard of her.
Gateway volunteers help heart patients recover
Consultant cardio nurse, Kate Gee describes how volunteers help heart patients recover.
Regular dance classes are helping heart patients get back on their feet. It’s a new initiative run by the cardio team at Birmingham University Hospital and part of its success is the involvement of volunteers from Gateway. Kate Gee, the consultant nurse leading the project talks about the difference the volunteers make.
Coping with post-natal depression
Veronica talks about coping with post-natal depression.
Pregnancy Outreach Workers help with practical things but also offer emotional support too. Veronica suffered from severe post-natal depression. It can be hard work to deal with a new baby, but post-natal depression can make life seem impossible. Because Veronica felt unable to deal with anything at all, things piled up. Bills weren’t paid and important letters were ignored. She also had two other children that needed looking after.
I helped Veronica sort out her finances, fill in forms and make the phone calls she felt she couldn’t manage; I also helped her find a child-minder which made a big difference – and I tried to keep her outlook as positive as possible. Sometimes I even made her laugh!
All together I supported Veronica for seven months, and eventually she was able to manage much better by herself, and her baby girl did well too.
Our Keyworkers get people into the jobs they want
13 weeks pregnant and under a lot of stress, Diane* was a client of our POW service. She was involved with an abusive partner and had suffered an early miscarriage, as well as experiencing the onset of depression. During that time her benefits had also been cancelled.
Diane was referred to the key worker service where she was offered support and guidance from one of Gateway’s Key-workers, Susan Bernard. When Susan met her she was still struggling financially. Susan supported Diane through frequent one to one visits and phone calls and signposted her to relevant agencies, who helped Diane get motivated and search for courses as she was interested in voluntary/paid employment. Diane’s burning ambition since leaving school has been to work in the Travel and Tourism Industry.
Diane was very resilient despite all that she had been through as a young person and had been doing voluntary work with West Midlands Fire Service for a time. She had also managed to find a voluntary placement with Travel Lodge which she has hoped would lead to a permanent position.
She enrolled for a French language class which she has been attending one evening a week to improve her skills but unfortunately had a setback due to a car accident which meant she wasn`t able to continue her role with Travel Lodge. This was really disappointing for her because she had set her heart on working for them as a Receptionist/Front of House role and had done all the required training for the organisation .This was just another barrier to overcome for Diane.
Susan supported her to complete a quality CV and covering letter so she was prepared for future job vacancies.
With the gained confidence and tools for finding employment Diane applied for a job with Birmingham Airport for a Security post. She was not expecting to receive a positive response due to lack of experience but was keen to apply and hope for the best. Diane was then short listed for the interview which was a full days assessment. Diane was very nervous but Susan supported her with interview preparation and confidence building to help Diane focus on the task ahead.
Diane’s application was successful out of sixty applicants and feels over joyed with what she has managed to achieve after such a difficult start
Diane has now started her new job and is finally getting to where she wants to be in life, all with her new baby!
*Name changed to protect identity
Losing 5 stone? That’ll be the Health Trainers
Health Trainer Paul Clarke’s client, Jenny*, was referred into the Health Trainer Service as she wanted to lose a bit of weight and also was very keen on learning more about healthy eating.
Sitting down and discussing her lifestyle, Jenny was easily able to identify the reasons behind her problems in losing weight. She also explained that she had managed to quit smoking with the help of Call to Quit, and identified that the constant support and weekly monitoring really assisted in her achievement her goal of quitting. Jenny said that she was able to give up smoking because of all the support she had.
Jenny and Paul decided that weekly monitoring would really help with weight loss. Paul explained to Jenny about the Lighten Up programme which would help her to receive the support she required with losing weight.
Paul encouraged her to attend a trial session at Weight Watchers to make sure she enjoyed the programme. Paul and Jenny were both happy with the programme and indeed Jenny had lost 4lbs in the first session!
Following on from this, Jenny had lost a further 9lbs, taking her weight loss to 13lbs. Although she was happy that she was losing weight and had almost lost a stone to this point, and had set herself a target of losing a total of 55lbs – with the support of Paul and Lighten Up
Over the next 10 weeks Jenny lost 40lbs – Which was AMAZING!! Her BMI had also decreased in this time from 31 to 24
Although the progress Jenny made was excellent, she was still determined to lose the final 6lbs to reach her target weightloss of 60lbs. Within 3 weeks of her final appointment she contacted Paul to confirm the good news that she had lost the final 6lbs she had hoped for.
In total, Jenny lost 68lbs, or an equivalent of 4 stone and 12 pounds and has vowed to keep strict on her lifestyle choices and is enjoying the time being able to be more active with her daughter.
A great example of working together, well done, Jenny Paul and the Lighten Up team.
*names changed to protect identity
POWs get more mums to breast feed
19 year old Jess talking about why she wants to breast feed.
Our latest statistics show that 70% of our mums started breast feeding, compared to 68% across Birmingham.
Most people agree that breast feeding is the best start for any baby. They got all the nutrients they need, it helps give them a strong immune system. It’s so important that UNICEF’s ‘Baby Friendly’ initiative is promoting it around the world. And we always encourage our new mums to breastfeed. Some of them say they don’t want to, but we find that’s because they don’t know how good it is for their babies and how good it is for them.
Some mums simply aren’t confident about trying it, they say they won’t do it right, and sometimes they do find it a bit difficult, and don’t have enough support to get it established.
We visit mums before they give birth to let them know what to expect, and then once the baby’s arrived we visit them at home to answer any questions and help them with any problems. We always encourage mums to give it a go and then support them so they keep going.