Jacob required support 5 days a week for 9 hours each day, with access to phone support at the weekends which he used regularly. At this time, he was known at Social Services for his persistent calling and threats to sue them. Although he was interested in going for walks with his support team, which could be 10-15 miles a day, he would not engage with them. The only other thing that interested him was going to look at the fish stocked at 3-4 local pet shops, sometimes for hours at a time, but, again, he would not interact with the support worker who accompanied him.

In September 2020, our new Service Manager, took over the management of Jacob’s care and set 2 simple goals – have Jacob attend college and furnish his flat. We helped him to achieve both within a matter of months.

As of April 2021, Jacob now only requires phone support and does not have a physical team of carers. He has a fully furnished flat, the fridge and cupboards of which he has stocked with nutritional food, and he even has a job working in a local warehouse – something he would never have considered before being supported by Bespoke. Jacob has also been attending college, including virtually throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, and is due to finish his diploma in Mechanical Engineering this year which is an incredible achievement.

Perhaps the best news, however, is that Jacob is 14 months into being 2 years free from self-harm. On his 2-year anniversary, he plans to apply to join the engineering division of the armed forces. Until then, Jacob has been inspired by his own Bespoke care team to work as a support worker himself and has been given the opportunity to do so with a young boy living with Autism.

Jacob has come such a long way in the years he has been with Bespoke and tells us that he is now ready to build towards a bright future.