Supported accommodation has offered Kate*, 28, the chance to live independently for the first time.
Kate has had OCD [obsessive compulsive disorder] since childhood. She has intrusive thoughts and displays compulsive behaviour. Her OCD creates high anxiety.
‘It started with fire. I couldn’t lock doors and I had to check all the gas burners were off. I smoked and I used to put water in the ashtray to ensure the ends were out.’
Kate was diagnosed when she was 14 and dropped out of school due to her high levels of anxiety. She went to college to train as a chef and has worked since she was 13, working her way up to management positions but her compulsions made it difficult to work in a kitchen.
‘It got worse in lockdown. I became obsessed with not being able to access a dentist and I stopped eating and drinking so my teeth wouldn’t decay. I was worried I would hurt my young niece. I was worried I had gone into people’s houses and turned the gas heaters on.’
She started videoing everything she did to check she hadn’t harmed her family and that she had remembered to take her medication. She stayed inside for sixteen weeks, and didn’t see family or friends, because she was worried about hurting them.
‘It was just easier not to be around people because I knew then I couldn’t harm them.’
Kate started exposure response prevention in a psychiatric hospital in London where she was exposed to items that triggered her OCD such as knives and bleach.
‘I was in hospital for four months having high intensive therapy. In hospital, I decided, with my mental health team, to live on my own and have some independence.’
Kate was offered a place at Horton Housing’s accommodation in Skipton. Alongside her own apartment, she has regular sessions with her support worker to help her achieve her goals.
‘This is the first place I have lived on my own,’ she said. ‘I am ready to move on now and looking at properties next week. The staff here are fantastic, they don’t judge.’
Kate is starting a college course in September to retrain as a counsellor and help others.
* Not her real name