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Jenny joined Make It Your Own as she had lost her job during the Covid-19 lock down
restrictions and was struggling with her mental health. She felt she had lost
her independence and had overwhelming feelings of anxiety and depression. She
really wanted her home to be a space she could relax in but didn’t know where to
start. Jenny lived with her boyfriend who is also care experienced and in a
similar situation where he had also lost his job and was suffering with severe
anxiety. Both were feeling stuck.

During covid-19 lockdown MIYO ran virtually and Jenny took part in the online sessions. She was chatty and open about her mental health during her online digital
sessions and had lots of ideas about what she would like her house to be like
but struggled to focus on one idea and didn’t know where to start. Her house
was cluttered and it was overwhelming her.

Jenny started with a creative air dry session and it gave her a boost and
she found it relaxing to create more clay trinkets in her evenings. During
Jenny’s sessions she preferred chatting through her week, then making plans for
organising her home. Jenny had complained about having too much rubbish in her
kitchen as she hadn’t been recycling and let the bins overflow. Her first buy
was storage and recycle bins for her kitchen. Jenny commented within a week that she
had started cooking again because the kitchen was clear and it gave her
motivation to do more.

Her next project was the bathroom. She disliked the
colour and design on the bathroom tiles and her bathroom floor was all marked.
Jenny ordered specialist paint and painted her tiles and floor giving the
bathroom a complete makeover. She also bought lights for her toilet and is now
really delighted with the final outcome. Jenny’s boyfriend was inspired by what
Jenny was doing and asked to join MIYO as well. Between both their sessions they became
much more motivated and encouraged each other to do more.

“Doing
MIYO has really made us more motivated to keep the house nice. It feels like
home now.” – Jenny

Just as Jenny was completing her final session she was able to start back
working and commented that having the house look nice and the kitchen clear she
feels so much better coming home. She can relax on her days off and even makes
herself packed lunches now the kitchen is clear and she enjoys cooking again.

“It’s
been really good for us, we are working as a team to get the house nice instead
of just staying in bed or watching telly all day, now we are looking at what we
can do to make it nice.” – Jenny