Published on
9 July 2026
Finding herself again: Samy's story
"I want to be a mum again. I want to find Samy."
Social Care Future is built on a simple idea: we all want the same things from life. To be with the people we love. To be ourselves. To do the everyday things that matter.
For Samy, a mum of two young girls, that meant being able to get on the floor and play Barbies. To do the school run. To sit at bathtime and be part of their routine.
But four and a half years ago, she lost all of that.
"I'd lost who Samy was"
Samy had been a hairdresser - on her feet all day, active, independent. Then fibromyalgia changed everything.
"I couldn't get out of bed. I couldn't go up and downstairs, couldn't play with my kids, couldn't be a mum," Samy said. "You'd get the guilt of your kids wanting you to do something, but you're just laying in bed another day."
Samy had doctors, consultants, a diagnosis. But no practical help. And she had no idea that adult social care existed.
"I just assumed social workers were about kids getting taken off you. And the other type of social care - adult - was for old people. It wasn't for me."
“What do you want?”
Eventually, a locum GP made a referral. An Intermediate Care Team gave Samy some basic equipment to keep her safe at home. Then she was referred to Laura, an Occupational Therapist with Wokingham Borough Council's Adult Social Care team.
Laura's approach was spot on right from the start.
"She asked me, 'What do you want?'" Samy said. "The answer was simple, 'I want to be a mum again. I want to find Samy.' And she said, 'Well, that's what we'll do."
Rather than overwhelming Samy with everything at once, Laura started with quick wins. A perch stool upstairs so Samy could be part of bathtime. A bed rail. Then a Rutland trolley - a small walking frame with trays that Samy could use to move food and drinks around the house.
"The girls think it's cool," Samy said. "If I'm in the garden the girls can bring our lunches out on the trolley."
Equipment that worked for the whole family
What made the difference wasn't just the equipment itself - it was how Laura thought about what it was for.
A blow-up back support wasn't just for sitting up in bed. It meant movie nights with the girls, who could bring it downstairs and turn the lounge into a cinema.
But the real game-changer was the Raizer lifting chair. After a fall, the chair builds around the person and lifts them to a seated position. It meant Samy wouldn't be stuck on the floor waiting for help, unable to be with the girls.
Then Samy realised she could use it differently - in reverse. "I wondered if I could use it to get down on the floor," Samy said. "The girls have got a big dolls house in their room. They get the chair out, build it, and I get down to floor level to play with them. My kids think this stuff's cool."
Floor play with young children is so important. And now Samy can do it. "It's becoming part of your family life rather than these things, these pieces of equipment that are embarrassing," says Samy.
What life looks like now
Samy does the school run every day she's able to. She takes her youngest daughter to football training on her mobility scooter. She's joined the school PTA - stuffing envelopes, going to meetings, getting invited to get-togethers with the other mums.
"Get me!" she laughed. "But I wouldn't have done any of this without Laura's support. I feel like I'm finding who I am again."
She also contributes to Wokingham's Inclusive Design Group once a month. It's a group where people with lived experience of support services help shape council decisions - making sure Wokingham is designed to be accessible for everyone.
"I come home very proud," Samy said. "Especially when we go back in and they're like, 'Yeah, we've made a change!' I'm like, 'Oh my god, we're actually making a difference!'"
She's also used her experience to help redesign the paperwork that occupational therapists use. Forms that are clearer and easier to understand make it less daunting for people accessing support.
She has goals now. An adapted gym programme. More council projects and finding a flexible job.
"I now think that if there's something I want to do, how am I going to make it happen?" Samy said. "If there's a problem out there somewhere, there's a solution."
What she'd tell others
Samy's advice to anyone in a similar situation is simple: reach out sooner.
"Get on the list now," she said. "If you don't need it, say no. But if things get worse, they're going to help. This hasn't got to be your life. There is a light, you've just got to open your eyes to find it."
She's also clear about what adult social care really is.
"It's actually about helping you be you," Samy said. "Laura came to me and all she was worried about was what I needed to feel better. She gave me my life back to what the new Samy is. I'm finding out who that is, and she made me be able to be a mum again. That's the main thing to me."
Supporting the vision in your community
Samy's story shows what person-centred support really means. It's not about prescribing solutions. It's about asking what matters to someone, building trust, starting with quick wins, and thinking creatively about how equipment and support can work for a whole family - not just an individual.
Social Care Future is about everyone living the life they want to live. For Samy, that meant being a mum, finding herself again, and having the confidence to take on new challenges.
"I feel like I'm finding who I am again," she said. "And I'm being part of the world and community again."
