Isaiah, 18, came to Centrepoint after his Special Guardianship Order (SGO) ended as he became a young adult. Since living with Centrepoint he's been developing his cooking abilities, growing his independent skills and has recently helped with planting a new garden at his supported home.
Moving to Centrepoint
Isaiah, 18, arrived at Centrepoint after his Special Guardianship Order (SGO), a court order granting legal responsibility to care for a child until they are 18, came to an end. Prior to moving to Centrepoint, he had been living with his grandmother but when he was no longer stay with her, he was referred for supported accommodation.
“I lived with my grandmother under a SGO and so when that ended, I needed somewhere to live. So that was when I got referred to Centrepoint”.
Developing new skills
Although still quite new to living in his supported home, Isaiah is settling in well. He's been working closely with a range of different teams around Centrepoint to support him gaining some new skills in cybersecurity and access appropriate mental health care.
“I’ve been seeing the therapist and that has been helpful. And I’ve been doing short courses on cybersecurity. It’s good to have the knowledge and power to defend yourself against any cyber-attacks”.
Alongside developing his cybersecurity knowledge, Isaiah has also recently been honing his cookery skills, something that he didn’t have much experience of before arriving at Centrepoint. Together with his key worker, George, they have been trying out some new recipes and helping him get some of the basics of cooking under his belt.
“We’ve been doing a few cooking sessions, and we’ve made scones, pasta and omelettes. The scones came out a bit lopsided! The omelette, I didn’t think it would, but it came out really well. I used brie and a truffle cheese rather than normal cheese and it had a much stronger taste. It’s really helped to build life skills”.
Alongside George, Isaiah has also been working closely with Elaine, another support and progression officer working at his supported home, to help him develop his social and vocational skills. “George is my key worker and we’ve been doing cooking and things like that – general housing benefits and all of that. And Elaine’s been helping with my social skills and stuff”.
The support he received from Elaine has been hugely important to him and he is appreciative to the extra lengths she has gone to so that he, and others, feels supported.
“So, Elaine goes and collects donations from Pret and Gail’s each week and she knows that I don’t particularly like white bread. So, she’s always been able to pick up an extra sourdough for me. And just she does that, she just goes the extra mile to even support us sometimes. Like she might leave late because she might like finish off a form that night instead of going home and coming back the next day to do it”.
Working on the garden space
In Isaiah’s new room, his window looks out onto the garden space in the shared house and when he first moved in, he saw that it could do with a bit of care. He remembers speaking to his key worker and seeing if there was a possibility to make some improvements to the garden and make it into a place where he and the other residents could hang out. Coincidently, his support team let him know that they were just about to begin working with a volunteer to help landscape, plant and add some life back into the space, and Isaiah was excited at the opportunity to work with them on this.
“My bedroom window overlooks the garden and so I mentioned the garden to my key worker, and it all happened then that we had a volunteer who was starting with us who would be working on the garden. So, I sort of started just helping alongside the volunteer”.
Isaiah got involved with all aspects of the garden refurbishment, from planting and de-weeding to landscaping and watering the plants, with his favourite thing about the new garden being the fragrant lemon balms he helped to grow.
Although Isaiah has been working on the garden for a couple of months now, he’s hopeful that it should be finished in the next few weeks and can't wait to have a space for all the residents to relax in. He’s really enjoyed working with the volunteer and getting to meet someone from a different background, who works in a different area.
“It’s been really good because the volunteer comes from a different field, so even just talking to them and like what they do in general and learn like other job avenues that exist”.
When thinking about the garden now and the impact that re-landscaping the space has had on him, Isaiah said that it now feels like it’s a “tranquil” place and something he takes pride in, always remembering to “water the plants before the sun comes up”.
Moving forward
Isaiah has recently finished college, where he was studying stage production and took on a summer volunteering role at a bar helping them with events and production. In September, he started his university course at The Royal Academy of the Dramatic Arts (RADA), continuing to study his passion for stage production.
He’s excited now that the course was begun, and proud of getting into such a prestigious institution to gain valuable skills and knowledge about the industry. “It’s the best university in the country for the course and you have to be invited back to do the third year. This year is the biggest the course has even been where they normally take only 20, they’re taking 32. I’m ready and raring to go!”.
“We’ll be learning how to make how to pull cues and how to light the stage properly – so we learn how to do all these things for the theatre”.
For Isaiah, his dream show to be involved with would be the musical The Outsiders, produced by Angelina Jolie. He’s now just waiting for it to be announced that it’s coming to the UK so he can get be a part of the staging and get to put his spin on the design.
We wish him all the best with his next steps and hope that he can be a part of his dream show in the future!
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