Support for Noah and much-needed respite for Michelle

“Noah has gone off with his two Support Workers for the first time and I didn’t get a look back, so I know he is going to be ok.” These were some of the words in a Facebook post Michelle Smith tagged us in on when we began supporting her lovely son Noah. Additionally, we also gave her some much-needed respite in the process.

In Michelle’s case, she had waited four years for funding to be approved for support for Noah. As a result, she, her two daughters and Noah himself could all benefit from some much-needed respite.

Michelle is not uncommon in having a family member with complex needs and challenging behaviour. As their main carer, she often feels the brunt of the frustrations of the young person in question.

So, it’s not just the young person who benefits from our services, but the wider family as well. In Michelle and her family’s case, she says it came just at the right time.

Autism, learning difficulties and non-verbal

Noah has epilepsy and had his first seizure when he was nine months old. He also has autism, learning difficulties and is non-verbal.

Michele says Noah is a lovely and bubbly ten-year-old 98% of the time. However, he can get frustrated and this is understandable given he is unable to verbally express these frustrations the other 2% of the time. Consequently, this can lead to him striking out at Michelle. Sometimes he also hits himself.

Thankfully, the fitting of a nerve stimulator near Noah’s heart which then sends signal to his brain, along with medication, means he has only suffered one seizure since March 2025.

I knew immediately we had chosen the right company in Caremark

And with an amazing mum in Michelle and the help of his school and now Caremark Rotherham and Sheffield’s support, ten-year-old Noah is making great progress.

We provide four hours of support to Noah each Sunday and also time during the school holidays. This gives Michelle time to catch up on any household jobs. More importantly, she gets to spend some quality time with her 12 and 14-year-old daughters.

Noah likes to be outside regardless of the weather, so our Support Workers take him to play parks or go on walks. They also take him to shopping centres. Sometimes they take him to play on the inflatables at Jump in Rotherham, which he particularly enjoys.

“Noah likes the company of males, probably because he is surrounded by three females at home so we asked if his Support Workers could be men and we couldn’t have asked for anyone better than Andrew and Ezekiel,” says Michelle.

“He went straight to Andrew on the first day he came to the house, grabbed his hand and led him to the trampoline.

“We were all smiling and laughing and I knew immediately we had chosen the right company in Caremark.”

About Caremark Rotherham & Sheffield

If you have a child with complex needs and are in need of a little bit of support, please have a look at the complex care in Rotherham and Sheffield we offer or contact our team directly today on 01709 789340.