Case Study 1

Paul’s story

Paul attended REACT last year.  He was angry which made him unpopular at school.  He was in trouble with his peers and would have angry interchanges with his teachers.  His teachers were concerned as this was beginning to look as though he would follow a path towards trouble with the Police and a possible ASBO, more importantly a lack of qualifications, which would affect his future employment.
Paul along with a group of troubled young people in his school was asked to take part in REACT series of 6 of Relationship Education workshops.  There he looked at his relationships and how he connected to others.  It transpired that there was a problem with his dad and rightly he did feel angry and a bit controlled. He started to gain insight into how this had affected him and he expressed it as anger.  He also thought his teachers were controlling (his perception).
Through the discussion in the groups, he realised that he was valued and began to talk rather than being aggressive in every exchange he had with others.  He began to let down his barriers and communicate in a positive way.  He is happier and his teachers have remarked on the difference.

Case Study 2

Christina’s story

Christina’s Mum and Dad are separated.  She and her sister are living with their Dad.  Their Mum has an undiagnosed mental health problem.  Her 2 younger sisters live with their Mum.
Christina came to REACT feeling confused with a sense of rejection and loss for her Mum.  She is also extremely concerned about her two younger sisters.  Torn about feeling a sense of responsibility for her Dad and knowing that although she has some information about what happened, she doesn’t know the whole story.
Counselling is helping her to explore her emotions, look at responsibility and how it’s not all to do with her.  They are looking at other resources to help her and her support networks.
Her friends and Social Work are in partnerships with her project worker and school and this is helping Christina to move forward.  Talking about her feelings has helped her realise that it is okay to be angry and upset.  She can now acknowledge and accept that she feels like this.

Young Parent Case Study - Rebecca

Rebecca met first met with our project workers two years previously.  She had a young son (18 months).  Rebecca was agrophobic and had difficulty leaving the house; her Health Visitor had heard of REACT and brought her along to an informal meeting REACT had set up in the Health Centre.  There were 3 other young mums at that meeting.  She found the Project Worker very easy to get along with, being a small meeting it was intimate and easy to talk, for the first time she was able to disclose some of the difficult feelings she had been experiencing, she felt ashamed that she could not leave the house because she became so anxious, Laura (project worker) used her counselling skills and helped her realise that she was a good mum, but also a worthwhile person.  Rebecca continued to come to the group and eventually became a Peer Educator.  She was so enthusiastic about the project and how it helped her to develop and grow that she wanted to share this with others.  Only this summer she recruited a further 5 members to a group we ran in our Glasgow centre. 

Rebecca is now a confident person; she had a good relationship with her partner and family.  In October this year she commenced her Degree Programme at University.  She is very positive about the future, this has modelled to her son and family that they have more options than they had ever envisaged and will help them to move out of deprivation.