“Thank you for helping me find some really friendly places for Sameer, it really has made us both happy”
Sameer is a 37-year-old, Ashton resident who self-referred to Social Prescribing to enable him to gain local connections, to help him improve his confidence and open up his world. Sameer has been diagnosed with Autism and mild learning difficulties, his wife is very supportive and completed the self-referral for Sameer into Action Together’s Social Prescribing team. This isn’t the first time that Sameer worked with the Social Prescribing team, 15-months prior to Sameer’s recent referral, Sameer self-referred to Social Prescribing after being advised by a Healthcare Professional of the borough-wide offer. In 2021, Sameer expressed to his Healthcare Professional that he wanted to find out more about the financial support that was available to him, which led him to refer himself to Social Prescribing, as a result Sameer was connected to Welfare Rights and The Citizen’s Advice Bureau to help him gain an understanding of the support available to him.
As an Ashton resident, Sameer was assigned to Ashton’s Social Prescribing Officer, Jyoti, who contacted Sameer to get him started with his Social Prescribing journey. In the initial contact, Sameer and his wife, requested that contact from Jyoti would be best suited to be directly with his wife, Inaya. Our Social Prescribing offer puts our clients at the centre of their own journey, our team are here to walk alongside our clients, with the clients leading the way. Jyoti, acknowledged the request from Sameer for contact to be with Inaya and from that point forward, worked with Sameer’s wife to create an array of suitable options for Sameer. Jyoti discovered that Sameer was currently not working but was desperate to get back to work as he misses his friends and colleagues. Sameer was working up until 2-years prior, when he was involved in an accident which affected his mobility, since leaving him housebound.
Over a period of 8-weeks, Jyoti and Inaya had several telephone calls, which allowed Jyoti to detail a variety of local activities and opportunities that Sameer may wish to engage with, these activities included:
• Routes to Work – To match with Sameer’s desire to explore training and work in Health Care; subsequently, Jyoti connected with Scott at Routes to Work who agreed that a referral for Sameer was appropriate, of which Jyoti has completed for Sameer
• Men in Sheds – Sameer has since started to attend this session weekly and has expressed to Jyoti that he would like to attend another session like this, to allow him to further open his world up
• Bloom Day Care – As a volunteering opportunity for Sameer with ample social opportunities
• Reach Church Gardening Project – to provide Sameer with social opportunities, whilst taking part in gardening, a passion of Sameer’s
• Active Tameside’s Walk & Talk – A social group that will provide Sameer with the prospect of building his confidence, whilst taking part in a physical activity to help him manage his health
Jyoti followed up telephone calls she made with Inaya, with text messages to Sameer that provided an overview of the activities and opportunities discussed in the phone call with his wife, to continue Sameer’s involvement in the conversation, this also made it easy for Sameer to translate on his phone, as English is not his spoken language. Together, Sameer, Inaya and Jyoti will continue to work together, to create additional connections for Sameer that will allow him to further open up his world and help build the social connections he is seeking.
To find out more about Social Prescribing in Tameside, call the team on 0161 830 6833 Monday – Friday, 09:00 to 16:00 or email us socialprescribing@actiontogether.org.uk
