ECL Colchester - Woodlands customer supported to connect with local community

ECL Woodlands linked with Wimpole Road Methodist Church to provide customers the option of attending the coffee morning at the church every Wednesday as a community activity. David loved being there and quickly made lots of friends. He has benefitted so much that he no longer feels he needs to attend the day centre.

Service Manager Taleena Goody said: “Over the period of a few weeks, David began to meet the Woodlands group at the church instead of coming to Woodlands first. He then decided to stay at the church for the whole morning instead of coming back to the centre for his usual half day. He then let us know that he wished to attend the coffee morning at the church independently instead of coming to Woodlands as he was happy there. After speaking with his social worker and his family, we all agreed that David was much happier at the church and he has now made a full reduction from Woodlands and connected with his local community.

“Even though David has left our service, we see it as a real success story as he’s found his place in the community. Our goal is to enable our customers to live more independently and integrate with the community and David has achieved this with our support. He has made many new friends and we are really pleased for him. We still see him every Wednesday when we attend the Church which is lovely, it’s great to see him so happy.”