I was placed with Next Step as I had had problems at my previous placement. I was with Next Step for over a year and never had any problems in my key working sessions. My key worker, K, was always on point with our sessions, and in those sessions I learnt how to put up curtains by myself, learnt how to register water, gas, tv, bills etc. I accidently broke my door and they nearly had to pay for a new one, instead K brought her tools and we fixed it together. The shower head also wasn’t working, instead of getting the maintenance people to fix it, me and Karen went to B&Q, got a new one and fixed it ourselves. She explained that when I moved in alone I’d have to pay for all that to get fixed, so it was better that I learnt how to do it.
K was the best. I literally told her everything, even when I got in trouble or whatever, and that’s because we created a good relationship even though we did have disagreements. I had never had my own Christmas tree before and we put one up together. K made my Christmas feel special.
Next Step helped me to get myself to be independent and to manage my money. Karen supported me in everything I needed support with and even when I didn’t feel like going, pushed me and got me up in the morning to make sure I was up and ready to deal with my appointments.
I learnt so much about independent living with Next Step and still keep in touch with K.
D I
