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A common sense approach to working with defendants and offenders with mental health problems
- Author:
- BRYANT Linda
- Publisher:
- Together: Working for Wellbeing
- Publication year:
- 2010
- Pagination:
- 27p.
- Place of publication:
- London
It is widely acknowledged that people with mental health issues are overrepresented in all parts of the criminal justice system. This guide is targeted at frontline criminal justice agency staff to support them when dealing with people with mental health problems. It aims to provide professionals such as police officers, probation officers, security and court staff with practical advice on what to do and which agencies to go to for help. The guide describes a 4-step approach: spot the potential issue; understand the impact of the surroundings; ask questions to find out more; and respond. The final step of the approach advises how to signpost to, and work in a joined-up manner, with other health and social care agencies and includes information on helping the person to register with a GP. Quick reference guides are also included covering the issues of: mental health, alcohol and substance misuse; learning disabilities and learning difficulties; and self-harm and suicide.
Thinking big, aiming high
- Author:
- BERKELEY Viv
- Journal article citation:
- Adults Learning, 21(5), January 2010, pp.26-27.
- Publisher:
- National Institute for Adult Continuing Education
This article outlines the themes raised at the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) annual disability conference. Concerns over funding, teacher training, partnership working and employment were raised, with delegates clear that flexible funding systems were necessary to empower providers to be more creative with what constitutes success. Delegates felt that simply funding qualification-driven provision would restrict providers in providing adequate services. The article highlights the difficulties in finding employment opportunities for disabled people, calling for a series of policy driven action that would enable better prospects in the future. It examines the role of further education in supporting disabled people into work, noting the ‘learning is a route into earning’. The article concludes by suggesting that having expectations and aspirations is vital to disabled people, and that providers and local government need to work in partnership to overcome the difficulties imposed by the current funding cuts.
A child and adolescent mental health service for children with intellectual disabilities - 8 years on
- Authors:
- WRIGHT Barry, WILLIAMS Chris, SYKES Marcella
- Journal article citation:
- Psychiatrist (The), 34(5), May 2010, pp.195-199.
- Publisher:
- Royal College of Psychiatrists
Children with intellectual disabilities are more likely to have mental health problems than children without intellectual disabilities. This paper reports on the last 8 years in the development of a child mental health learning disability service in York. The growth, challenges and pitfalls faced by the service are charted. The paper also shows how a service can cope with rising demand without the development of waiting lists and how a specialist service can be embedded within a generic child and adolescent mental health service (CAMHS) as a tier 3 team. This has the advantage of allowing easy networking, joint training, joint working and secondments. It also avoids unnecessary service access issues where different services may not have complimentary referral criteria, leading to service gaps; it therefore provides equity of access within local services, and integrates the team within discussions about new developments and commissioning. The article argues that this is a healthy service model that meets the needs of local children with moderate to severe intellectual disabilities and concomitant child mental health problems.
May the force be with you
- Author:
- MAIR Robert
- Journal article citation:
- Learning Disability Today, 10(1), January 2010, pp.26-27.
- Publisher:
- Pavilion
- Place of publication:
- Hove
Disability hate crime has been high on the agenda, and in response to this the government has launched its Hate Crime Action Plan. The success or failure of this hate crime strategy hinges on how well the police work in partnership with other agencies at a local level. This article looks at a new initiative in Birmingham between the West Midlands Police and the Safer Birmingham Partnership. Together they have launched a hate crime campaign to highlight the issue, and to encourage victims to report any incidents. The campaign runs from November 2009 to March 2010 and comprises posters and a dedicated phone line which links directly with Birmingham’s antisocial behaviour unit, made up of local authority staff and police officers. In addition, the West Midland’s police have already been working with the self-advocacy group Changing Our Lives to improve the standard of policing when it comes to dealing with people with learning disabilities. This has included introducing the Safe Place scheme in the district of Sandwell district, and using learning disabled trainers to work with police officers.
Multi-agency inspection: thematic inspection of services for people with a learning disability in Angus, Dumfries and Galloway, East and West Lothian
- Author:
- SOCIAL WORK INSPECTION AGENCY
- Publisher:
- Social Work Inspection Agency
- Publication year:
- 2010
- Pagination:
- 156p., bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- Edinburgh
The Scottish Government commissioned this inspection, which was undertaken in 2009. The 3 themes for the inspection were transition, lifelong learning, and employment. It focused on what 4 councils and health partnerships in Angus, Dumfries and Galloway, East and West Lothian were doing to improve the experiences of people with a learning disability about these issues. The report includes an easy read summary of the findings, describes the inspection methodology and activities, and reports on the findings for each of the 4 partnerships studied and on shared issues for all areas. It includes tables with a summary showing evaluation levels for each partnership for: outcomes for people who used services and their carers, experience of people who used services and their carers, impact on stakeholders, access to services, strategic planning, vision, values and aims, and capacity for improvement. It makes recommendations for improvements for individual councils, individual partnerships or more than one council or partnership. The report notes that each partnership will be asked to prepare an action plan setting out how they will implement the recommendations of the report.
"Nothing about us without us": combining professional knowledge with service user experience in training about mental health and learning disabilities
- Authors:
- HENEAGE Celia, MORRIS Di, DHANJAL Kuljinder
- Journal article citation:
- Mental Health and Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 7(2), Autumn 2010, pp.120-129.
- Publisher:
- South West Yorkshire Mental Health NHS Trust and University of Huddersfield
Recent policy documents have proposed that people with learning disabilities should be more fully included in generic mental health care provision. Such services now include the government’s ‘Improving Access to Psychological Therapies’ (IAPT) initiative which focuses particularly on the provision of support to people suffering from anxiety and depression. This article reports on a training session delivered to IAPT practitioners based at a university in the south of England by a service user with learning disabilities who had accessed mental health services (one of the authors), together with a clinical psychologist and an honorary assistant psychologist. The practitioners were involved in the provision of time-limited psychological intervention, based on Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) principles. Four key questions were considered: what is learning disability; what emotional difficulties might they experience in particular; how can CBT be adapted to meet their needs; what information is available about people with learning disabilities and employment? Among the 32 practitioners who attended the training day, 56% had worked with them in a professional context. The practitioners completed pre and post evaluation forms in which they were asked to rate their knowledge about and confidence in working with people with learning disabilities. Following the training participants rated themselves as having significantly greater knowledge and confidence. Many of the qualitative reasons given for these changes mentioned the contribution of the service user. Observations from the facilitators are also presented. It is concluded that joint training needs to be developed and its impact further researched.
Multiagency protocols in intellectual disabilities transition partnerships: a survey of local authorities in Wales
- Author:
- KAEHNE Axel
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities, 7(3), September 2010, pp.182-188.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Local authorities in Wales have undertaken various efforts to improve the experience of transition for young people with intellectual disabilities as they leave school and enter the general marketplace. This paper presents the findings of a study of transition protocols in place for intellectual disability partnerships in 22 local authorities in Wales. The study consisted of a survey of existing protocols and a documentary analysis of the content of the obtained protocols. The article outlines the relevant legal and policy context of school to marketplace transition in England and Wales, then reviews the results of the survey of all 22 Welsh local authorities, and presents the findings of a documentary content analysis. The results highlight the difficulties in formulating effective protocols for transition partnerships at the local authority level. Criteria applied in the documentary analysis have been, among others, person-centred planning, involvement of young people and carers, accessibility of the protocol, and the inclusion of external agencies in transition planning. The analysis shows wide-ranging discrepancies in the quality and content of transition protocols across Wales.
"We will remember Steven”: Cornwall after 'the murder of Steven Hoskin: a serious case review’
- Author:
- FLYNN Margaret
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Adult Protection, 12(2), May 2010, pp.6-18.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
This author (chair of Lancashire County Council’s Adult Safeguarding Board), had been invited by the director of Cornwall County Council’s (CCC) adult social care department, following publication of ‘The murder of Steven Hoskin: a serious case review’ (SCR) in 2007, “to restore public confidence ... and provide ... an evidence based assessment of ... progress” on the SCR recommendations for system-wide and agency-specific changes to improve the safeguarding of young people with learning disabilities in England. She details written documentation from each agency in contact with Steven and the people who moved into his bedsit, and who submitted to the management reviews required by the SCR. In addition she interviewed over 40 boardroom representatives, middle managers and frontline personnel from each of the 9 children’s and adult social care, Primary Care Trust, NHS, police, adult protection, young offender, youth work, housing and tenant agencies involved, in December 2008. The text describes “something of their work priorities and ... programmes since” and is punctuated by quotes from staff. Under two headings, ‘agency-specific actions’ and system-wide actions’, the author reviews the SCR recommendations, the agencies’ action plans, and documents actions completed across and within agencies. She reports significant progress in terms of attitude, and reforming work methodology, but says there are still challenges to overcome.
The Bradley Report and the criminal justice workforce: tackling mental health and learning disabilities in the justice system
- Authors:
- SAINSBURY CENTRE FOR MENTAL HEALTH, SKILLS FOR JUSTICE
- Publisher:
- Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health; Skills for Justice
- Publication year:
- 2010
- Pagination:
- 4p.
- Place of publication:
- London
In April 2009, the Bradley Report was published, making 82 recommendations which should lead to major changes in the way that individuals with mental health issues and those with learning disabilities in the criminal justice system are supported and treated. Thirty of the 82 recommendations have direct implications for the criminal justice workforce. This briefing paper outlines 4 key areas where significant activity is needed to develop the justice sector workforce to meet the ambitions and aims arising from the Bradley Report. The 4 key areas are: training in mental health and learning disability awareness for practitioners across the system; working together across agencies to treat individuals going through the system consistently and fairly; communicating information more effectively and efficiently so that individuals are not constantly reassessed or shuttled between services; and national workforce planning. This report highlights the changes needed in the approach to training individuals across criminal justice agencies, and makes recommendations as to how to take the work forward.
Guide for commissioners of services for people with learning disabilities who challenge services
- Author:
- NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT TEAM FOR INCLUSION
- Publisher:
- National Development Team for Inclusion
- Publication year:
- 2010
- Pagination:
- 42p.
- Place of publication:
- Bath
This good practice advice is intended primarily for NHS and local authority commissioners of services to assist them to commission high quality, cost effective services for people with learning disabilities whose behaviour challenges services. It follows the principles of Department of Health policy as described in the Mansell Report and is based on reviewing the experience and learning from commissioners in several locations in England who have made progress in implementing that policy. The report is divided into sections based on the factors that were identified to be important for success in the selected locations, with descriptors of good practice and advice for specific actions that, based on experience elsewhere, are likely to result in more effective commissioning and thus better life outcomes for people who are labelled as challenging. Seven broad areas of evidence are explored: vision and values; strong, knowledgeable and empowered leadership; strong relationships and a ‘no blame’ culture; an evidence based service model; skilled providers and support staff; evidence based commissioning; areas of high risk.