This is the third blog post in a series highlighting some of the real life cases our Social Prescribing Link Workers have worked on this year.
The first two stories we published were from Birmingham Link Workers:
Social Prescribing case study: “Help me to sort this out!”
Social Prescribing case study: “I just want to know my son is OK”
Now it’s the turn of our Solihull team. Glenn is one of four Social Prescribing Link Workers who are based at North Solihull GP practices and, like all our Link Workers, she has been working with patients who have been referred by their GP or other practice staff for social, non-clinical needs. Since Covid hit in March, most of the work has been done via video and phone calls, with occasional visits to foodbanks, shops and pharmacies to help patients out, and the occasional distanced meet-up in parks and open areas.
Glenn told us about “Lorraine” (not her real name), who was referred for general advice and befriending, and explained how she encouraged her to deal with things one step at a time.
“No longer burying her head in the sand”: Lorraine’s story
Link Worker Glenn works in North Solihull
In June, Lorraine’s* GP referred her to the surgery’s Social Prescribing Link Worker, Glenn, for some extra support. The referral form mentioned that she may potentially need befriending, general advice and signposting (directing her to other organisations and agencies she might not have known about before).
Glenn called Lorraine shortly after receiving the referral. She asked her what had been happening in her life recently, and how she might be able to help.
Lorraine, who’s in her late 60s, told Glenn that she felt her health was suffering because of stress. So they had a long chat about it. Lorraine explained she had recently moved to Solihull from the other side of the city, and didn’t know anyone nearby, but that the main issue on her mind was debt. She told Glenn that this was causing her the biggest worry and was the source of most of her feelings of stress.
Lorraine explained that she had debts with a number of companies, including her own bank, with whom she had gone overdrawn. It had got to the stage where she admitted she now didn’t know where to start sorting it out. She was feeling overwhelmed.
The first thing Glenn did was to give her the details of Step Change, an organisation that would give her free debt advice. Then they wrote everything down to see where they could make a start. Lorraine said she didn’t have the confidence to ring the bank to talk to them about the overdraft, but Glenn gave her the encouragement she needed to make the call.
In fact, the bank were really helpful on the phone, and sent Lorraine an income and outgoings form to fill in. Lorraine and Glenn filled it in together, and this has allowed the bank to give Lorraine a repayment plan that feels positive and achievable.
The next step will be to use this information to fill in some forms for Step Change. Then Glenn will call the other places where Lorraine has debts and tell them that she is working on a budget plan with the organisation. By working methodically and making achievable plans with the help of debt specialists, Lorraine is already starting to feel more in control.
“[Lorraine] definitely feels better now that she has started to sort her debts out,” says Glenn. “She feels like she’s no longer burying her head in the sand.”
Now that Lorraine has tackled her biggest worry, she is starting to think about some of the other things she’d like to improve. She has mentioned that she’d like some help to lose weight and stop smoking, so Glenn has also referred her to the Solihull Lifestyle Service, where she will be able to work with an advisor to make more positive lifestyle changes.
*Lorraine’s name has been changed
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