Ollie’s story

 

Before Ollie started TLG Early Intervention coaching, he found life at school stressful and hard to cope with. 

He had resorted to self-harming, scratching his hands to the point where they became scabbed over. 

“I was pretty worried about my mental condition.” 

Ollie describes that he thought his actions down to his overwhelming emotions, until two years ago when he received an Autism diagnosis. From there he realised that certain things about the school day would cause him stress which often meant he struggled to sleep at night worrying about the next day. 

Ollie’s mum, Alex, described how when she became aware of the self-harming, she began to feel helpless having tried numerous things to support Ollie that didn’t seem to be working. 

Ollie began working with Anne as his TLG Early Intervention coach and Alex could straight away see an improvement in Ollie’s mood when he came home from school, as she began to try new ways to support Ollie that hadn’t been suggested previously. 

“He couldn’t wait to tell me what they had done that day and couldn’t wait until his next day with Anne.” 

Through the Early Intervention training Anne was given, she was able to learn about different types of activities she could use in her sessions with Ollie. Helping him to not only learn more about himself but also coping mechanisms to help him manage the school day. 

Anne knew that Ollie enjoyed art, so used that as a starting point for planning their sessions. They began by Ollie teaching Anne how to draw a face, Ollie joked to Anne “Actually, you got on very well!”. Together they have worked on big art piece that featured a painting on a canvas with positive and affirming words around that Ollie thought about himself. 

“Through coaching, I started to feel differently. I would feel happier and just generally being able to talk about my feelings felt really good, and then was improving my mental state.” 

Ollie began to be able to sleep better and he actually wanted to come into school because he felt better prepared to cope with challenges that may present themselves during the school day. 

Not only did Ollie, his coach Anne and his mum Alex notice a significant difference, but also Ollie’s school principal who described Ollie as being “back to his brilliant best!” 

“TLG Early Intervention is a no-brainer. The therapeutic interventions have allowed us to meet needs that I would not be able to afford to meet in my current financial situation.” 

Ollie’s future is now brighter and full of hope because of the support he’s received from TLG Early Intervention.