Wigan man pens book after care staff help him to read and write

David Clarke a resident at Hyndelle Lodge supported living, Hindley, was struggling with reading but with the help of staff he has now written a book. David pictured with support workers Gill Melling, left, Kayleigh McGarrigan and Ellie Nugent, right

A young Wigan man, who just months ago struggled to read or write, has penned a book about his incredible journey.

David Clarke 21, has chronicled his inspiring tale of overcoming his difficulties in a book called CIC and Me, thanks to the team at Hyndelle Lodge CIC (Community Integrated Care) in Hindley.

“He couldn’t read or write initially,” said Dean Ritchie, deputy service provider at Hyndelle, where David has lived since March of this year.

“Our staff member Simon Rudd helped tutor him with literacy skills, which has helped him write his own book which details his experiences of transitioning into our service.

“With any previous service providers David had, they never really explored fundamental living skills with him.

“They’ve never gone through the basics of reading and writing, so he was always having other people reading his mail for him and reading his support plan to him.

“We thought it was important to bring this to the centre of his care and make him feel empowered to be involved.

“Simon, who is a previous educational needs assistant, went through resources with him to try to get David to the learn the basics.

“He’s developed that slowly over the past two months and it’s actually resulted in David wanting to tell the story of how he’s felt so supported within the community integrated care. He feels supported.

“The fact he can actually read the book that he’s put together, and can detail all these activities and snapshots of his life, has been amazing.”

Dean added: “He’s also been reflecting on his previous placements and how they’ve not done this and not explored this with him.

“It’s just detailing how he feels more of an adult now, and what his next steps are.

“He feels much more positive, he feels like he’s achieved what we didn’t think he

could.

“He’s already thinking of writing his next story! This would be more fiction though, which would be nice for him to explore.”

Dean now hopes the team at Hyndelle can take inspiration from David’s story to help others in their care.

He said: “It’s an absolutely amazing achievement and it’s one that we’re going to try and replicate with others.

“David was one of the first people who moved into our new building so had the fortune of being the first one to try this.

“So we hope to roll this out to more people.”

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