Ausiah is a senior recovery navigator who works at Wellbridge House in Bristol, part of the Community Rehabilitation team. He recently sat down with us to tell us about what makes his work so special.
Read Ausiah’s Story below or watch his story here.
Ausiah and his team support people with complex, long-term mental health challenges who have often felt forgotten or alone. At Wellbridge House, people find stability and support – they start believing that they can become more confident, more independent and start connecting again with the world.
“I really care about Wellbridge House,” Ausiah says, “I’m really passionate about it because I’d love to have somewhere like Wellbridge House on my rehabilitation journey – just that place of acceptance, I think it’s absolutely pivotal in allowing people to be who they are and achieve, not just a recovery, but a recovery that’s orientated around their self.”
“My role as senior recovery navigator includes some client work, but it’s also like a team leader role as well, so I line manage some of the staff here too.”
A place to call home
Wellbridge House is a residential home in Brentry, Bristol offering a safe place for people to stay while receiving tailored mental health support. Many of our residents have previously accessed secondary mental health services and experienced repeated hospital stays, as well as challenges with living independently.
“I would describe Wellbridge House as a home for people with long-term mental health issues,” says Ausiah, “It’s a space of acceptance for people to come and receive whatever support they need on their rehabilitation journey.”
“There’s definitely a sense of community in the house. This is a home for people, so there’s that sense of family community. Within the resident group, like once a week, they’ll make a meal together – a communal meal – where they’ll decide what meal they have, do the shopping, cook it, and eat it together.”
A brighter future
At Wellbridge House, residents are encouraged to identify their own goals and dreams, with the support of our recovery navigators. Everyone has their own personal recovery plan to help them document their progress and work toward a life where they can live independently.
“My hopes for our residents after leaving Wellbridge House would be for them to achieve their goals and their dreams that they set out when they came here,” says Ausiah, “how we help them achieve that – we’ve got a very compassionate staff team, first of all, who really care about the people that come here. With that we use a very person-centred approach; we regularly meet with our residents to find out where they’re at in terms of their goals, what it is they need, and then we provide that support, whether that’s in-house at Wellbridge, within Second Step and our wider community, or our external partners and agencies.”
WATCH: Ausiah on Life at Wellbridge House
More about Wellbridge House and the Community Rehabilitation team
The Community Rehabilitation Service supports people living with complex mental health challenges to achieve their goals and gain the skills and confidence to live as independently as possible. Working in partnership with Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust (AWP) and charity Missing Link, we support people both in the community and at Wellbridge House, our residential home in Brentry, Bristol.
Find out more on the Community Rehabilitation team webpage.
AWP supports people with mental health challenges in inpatient and community-based settings across Bath and North East Somerset (BaNES), Swindon and Wiltshire, and Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire. Visit the AWP website here.