Case Studies
Case study A
A young man began to use the United Estates as a shy 15 year old. He is an only child and lived with his single parent mum in the Benchill neighbourhood of the Wythenshawe estate.
A bit of a loner he would come into the UEW Gymnasium and soon became a regular user. He was fascinated with weight training and nutrition and would spend hours discussing various weight training techniques, dietary requirements and the such like.
By the age of 18 he was a regular client of UEW and it wasn’t uncommon for him to spend most of the day in the UEW Building sometimes leaving and returning three or four times in the same day.
In his 18th year tragedy struck when his mother committed suicide. Staff and clients rallied around him to help provide support in what was an extremely difficult time for him; helping with funeral arrangements, providing meals, moral support and care.
The frequency of his visits didn’t diminish despite what was for him a real low period. After the funeral and struggling to regain some form of equilibrium in his life he enquired as to volunteering at UEW Gym – an offer which was readily accepted. He began to show younger Gym members around the gym, explaining technique and demonstrated weight lifting routines.
He would make comments like, “This place (UEW) is the only thing that gets me out of bed in the morning.” And, “If it wasn’t for this place I don’t know what I would do.”
In his early 20’s and now a regular and reliable volunteer at UEW, he suffered a serious assault whilst out walking which resulted in a critical head injury. The injury lead to health complications and he was diagnosed with Paranoid Schizophrenia. Again a very difficult time when staff and clients alike rallied around to offer support and care.
Today he is in his early 30’s, his condition is stabilised by regular medication. He can sometimes become confused and even agitated. His use of UEW has never stopped and he continues to be our most regular and reliable member of the UEW Family. We help with meals and personal care, budgeting skills and home making requirements, Birthdays and special occasions are always celebrated. Not only is he a friend and UEW team member he is also a valuable member of the UEW Family in all ways.
Case study B
A local Mum from the Wythenshawe estate with three children. After the birth of her first child she suffered from post natal depression and was advised by a close family friend (and UEW Parent and Carer Group user) to call in and see what goes on in our building.
Mustering up the courage, she called in with her new baby, sat, drank tea and chatted with the other local mums – some of whom had experienced similar feelings and emotions just as was going through now. The emphasis of UEW parent and Carer group is on mutual care, support, trust and love. The local parents/carer’s take control of the planning and direction of the group which makes the group extremely sensitive and responsive to real local needs and concerns.
She began to volunteer her time in the Parent and Carer group and after the birth of her second child began to actively become involved in fundraising for family days out and other ‘family together’ time adventures. With her involvement the whole group enjoyed fun days out to Blackpool, Gullivers World and even as far afield as a long weekend in Scotland (50 adults and children) and a trip to Lego Land in Windsor – all as a direct result of her tireless work and commitment to helping other struggling families in the Wythenshawe area.
She now has three children (17 years, 12 years and 10 years) and is a very much respected, loved and a valuable member of the UEW Family. She has now turned her attention to organising and directing our Mums Mart Scheme which sees’s mums from the estate holding monthly markets to sell a variety of home grown products (soaps, candles, cakes, baby clothes, flower arrangements’ and even re-conditioned wedding dresses!) Money raised locally goes to provide fun days out and short holidays for local families who may be experiencing difficulties with family life, health, finances, work and other daily struggles.
More recently she helped initiate the UEW Savings Community. This was developed from ideas taken whilst meeting a group of South African Mums who had visited Wythenshawe via a course at Manchester University. A return trip was soon arranged and her and five other local Parents repaid an exchange visit to South Africa to study their ‘micro-finance schemes. On their return to UK she and the other parents decided to continue to work with the University to develop a Savings Community in UK. This initiative now has over 90 regular savers who meet for a meal and a chat every Friday at UEW. This year plans are afoot to visit Kenya to study what schemes and initiatives are employed over there for the benefit of their local people who similarly may be experiencing some of the doubts, troubles and sad feelings that she had felt when she first joined our team.