Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is launching a specialist county-wide CAMHS Learning Disability Team next month.
The aim of the project is to improve access to mental health support for children and young people in the county who have a moderate or severe learning disability, including those with a dual diagnosis of autism, and ensure that they get specialist care, reflecting their individual needs.
The team will start to accept referrals from Monday, January 29, with support available to children and teenagers who are:
- Aged 5 to 17 and have a diagnosed moderate or severe learning disability, or a significant impairment of intellectual and social adaptive functioning indicative of a moderate or severe learning disability.
- Registered with a GP surgery in Berkshire
- And are experiencing a significant emotional mental health need or significant behaviours that challenge, associated with a mental health need.
Click here for full details of the new service.
Autism Berkshire’s chief executive officer, Jane Stanford-Beale, who has been pressing for the provision of a service of this kind for a long time and was a member of the working party helping to develop it, said: “I’m delighted that the team is preparing to start work to provide tailored mental health support to families of children and young people who have a learning disability.
“I’m sure that many families will find it a valuable addition to Berkshire CAMHS’s services.”
The new team will be based at the main Berkshire Child & Adolescent Mental Health Service office, at Erlegh House, on the University of Reading’s Whiteknights campus.
Click here for information about Berkshire CAMHS services.
