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Finding the strength to move forward – Carly’s Be Well journey

My mental health and confidence was on the floor when we first met – you really helped me to pick myself up after a year of grief and sadness.

Before Carly (not her real name) was referred to Be Well our social prescribing service for Central and South Manchester she had been diagnosed with PTSD and pre-diabetes. Her husband had died recently and she faced mounting mortgage payments. It all meant her confidence had hit rock bottom. So much so that she’d stopped going out to see people.

Following her assessment in February and she was allocated to an employment coach who quickly found her many strengths, including excellent admin skills, well over 20 years’ job experience, a warm, friendly personality and a motivation to improve her life.

Her main goal was to gain suitable employment but she also wanted to improve her confidence and her mental health.

Weekly and sometimes twice-weekly appointments with her Coach got Carly out of the house and helped give her something to focus on. It was also a chance to give her lots of positive feedback, tell her she was doing amazing and motivate her to take little steps each week.

This soon led to discussions about what she really enjoyed doing in her previous jobs. It turned out she had worked at Wythenshawe Job Centre for over 20 years a role she really enjoyed because it was helping people change their lives for the better.

Her coach followed this up by helping her look for roles similar to her previous roles and soon she was getting interviews. We did mock interviews and slowly her confidence grew. At one point Carly had 5 interviews planned and in the end was offered THREE jobs!

In June, Carly started her new role as a Key Worker. She’s also lost weight, her mortgage worries have eased and she is very excited about what the future holds.

Carly said, “My mental health and confidence was on the floor when we first met – you really helped me to pick myself up after a year of grief and sadness. You gave me the confidence to try again and thus gave me the confidence to put myself forward. My daughter said she has seen a huge difference since I have been meeting with you. I love your ‘can do’ approach and I promise to have the same enthusiasm and commitment for my clients.”

Be Well is a social prescribing service for people who are aged 18 or over and are patient’s of a GP practice in Central and South Manchester. Ask your GP to refer you to Be Well.