Case Studies:
Overcoming Barriers
My Noah’s ART Story: Rebecca
“Joining the course helped me grow in confidence and also helped me think about my career pathway”
How it began
Rebecca suffers from anxiety as a result of trauma. She also has OCD, was recently diagnosed with autism and is in recovery from psychosis. She was referred onto the course by The Early Intervention Team following a psychotic illness. Rebecca’s care coordinator had previously encouraged her to join us as a volunteer, but she had not felt she could do this with her anxiety and paranoia.
She suffered a relapse just before the course was due to start. However, due to the impact of COVID-19 restrictions, the start date was delayed and she was well enough to join us for the March start.
Rebecca was extremely nervous, but determined to attend the course. She was supported by her care coordinator to attend the first session, but struggled to stay more than a couple of hours. However, she persisted and from week 3 managed to stay for the full day. She then attended every week of the course.
Then What Happened?
Having experienced bullying in the past, Rebecca was cautious in the teaching setting.
“I managed to overcome this anxiety and contribute well to the learning and class discussions.
Working in pairs or in a group helped me build my confidence when interacting with others and to feel more comfortable around people.”
I also made connections with fellow students, and developed friendships.”
What’s Next?
While not immediately ready to look for employment, the course helped Rebecca to gradually explore and identify the different possibilities. She was able to identify that the first step was to tackle her anxiety related to people as a result of previous trauma.
“Joining the course helped me grow in confidence and also helped me think about my career pathway”
What’s more, having become part of the group through the team working activities, she then realised that the next step was to continue to build her confidence and seek a volunteering experience.
Rebecca went on to support our cage enrichment team as a volunteer. Their role was to develop cage enrichment toys for the small animals:
“This helped me continue to learn how to work as a team while continuing to gain experience working with the animals.”
Rebecca has since gone onto take part in further Noah’s ART courses and community projects, becoming a valued member of the Noah’s ART community.
Excitingly, she has just applied to enroll on an Access To Nursing qualification, with the end goal of becoming a Mental Health Nurse.
