LD Psychology

About our service

The people that we work with will all have a diagnosis of learning disabilities. However what this looks like can be very different for each person that we work with. Some people will live independently, or with some support from carers or family. Other people will have much more significant learning disabilities and may need support with feeding, movement and basic care.

 

For this reason, we work in a variety of ways:

• We may work directly with the person with a learning disability, who we may see in one of our clinics.
• We offer groups, to help people to learn to cope with painful emotions and to build self-esteem.
• We may work with the person’s family, friends and staff teams.
• We may work with other people who are important in their life.

 

 

What is the aim of the service?

The Learning Disabilities Psychology Service supports adults with learning disabilities to improve their mental and physical health. We aim to provide support which helps our clients to feel happier and improve their quality of life.

 

We explain that we work with people who may be feeling worried, sad, frightened or angry. We aim to listen, understand and help the person to develop coping skills where appropriate. We do not share information with other people, unless consent has been provided. We would only share information if there is a risk to the person or others, or if the person was not able to consent and information is shared in their best interests.

 

Our team is made up of qualified psychologists, trainee clinical psychologists and assistant psychologists. We are not psychiatrists, who are medical doctors. We do not prescribe medication or provide physical examinations.

 

It is important that we have established that the person wants to talk with someone from the psychology team before we accept a referral. This is known as consent. Sometimes we may do some thinking with referrers to consider when is the right time to do psychological work.

 

 

What support is offered?

Some of the areas that psychology work with include:

• Mental health issues, including anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, psychosis, phobias.
• Physical health issues, including managing pain, feeding issues, adjustment after severe illness.
• Working with behaviours that challenge, using a positive behaviour support framework.
• Trauma and loss. This may be due to the person experiencing sexual, emotional, or financial abuse. This includes bullying, mate crime and hate crime. Many of the people that we work with have experienced multiple traumas throughout their lives. We may also support people who have experienced traumatic or complex bereavement.
• Relationship issues. We support people who may be having difficulties in their relationships with family, staff, friends or partners.
• Supporting clients in crisis. One of the key aims of our service is to keep people out of hospital and for their care to be delivered in the community as much as possible.
• Support for people whose behaviour poses risks to other people in the community.
• Frailty and Dementia: we support people with learning disabilities as they are growing older. As part of the MDT we are involved in the assessment and diagnosis of dementia. We also provide support to help the individual, their family and carers to adapt to and manage the changes associated with frailty and/or dementia.

 

 

Who we don't see

We are unable to offer a service to people:

• Who have specific learning difficulties, such as dyslexia.
• Who have a neurodevelopmental disorder, such as autism, ADHD, but no diagnosed Learning Disability.
• With mild learning disabilities, whose needs can be managed within mainstream services with some reasonable adjustments.
• Who are looking for a diagnosis of learning disabilities or autism. This is usually offered through the Commissioners.

 

 

Referrals

Eligibility criteria:

• Aged 19 years and over (or within 6 weeks of their 19th birthday).
• Diagnosed learning disability and needs specialist health support that cannot be met through mainstream services even with the use of reasonable adjustments.
• Registered with a Birmingham GP.
• Moving into the Birmingham area with a Birmingham residential postcode and an identified Birmingham GP, but are unable to register with the GP until they have moved into their property (for example, a service user discharged from hospital or a complex case moving into the area and going through the transfer or handover of care process). Confirmation will be required for service users eligible for s117 that the transferring Learning Disability Service have had a conversation with the local Integrated Care Board (ICB).

 

A referral to the service can be made through a number of means including a patient’s GP, carer, or family member.

 

You can make a referral by calling the Learning Disability’s Single Point of Access:

• Phone: 0121 466 4980
• Email:  BCHNT.ldreferrals@nhs.net.

 

This will require completion of a referral form that needs to be sent through.