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Our Mental Health in Learning Disabilities Team (Southwark) is a specialist, community-based service based at Maudsley Hospital. We provide community-based psychiatric and psychological assessment, advice and treatment for people, aged over 18, who live in the London Borough of Southwark. We care for adults with mental health problems and learning disabilities who may have emotional, behavioural, and social, communication or physical difficulties.

We work with people who have a confirmed learning disability diagnosis or where there is evidence to suggest the person would meet the diagnostic criteria for a learning disability if this has not been formally assessed. We consider the following factors:

· Whether the person is affected by cognitive functioning difficulties that impact their ability to learn new and complex information across a range of domains

· Whether the person has adaptive functioning difficulties which affect their day to day living e.g. ability to travel independently, use money, attend to their personal care and physical health

· Both of these areas of difficulty have been present prior to the age of 18 Our service doesn't provide learning disability assessments.

We also consider whether people with a learning disability referred to our service would be able to access mainstream services with reasonable adjustments. We are a multi professional team including psychologists, behavioural support specialists, nurses and psychiatrists.

We work with other health and social care teams as part of the MHLD Neurodevelopment Division. We provide mental health assessments, therapy and advice on services and treatment options to help people with learning disabilities maintain their health and independence. We provide care for people with mental health problems and complex needs including behaviours that challenge. We are a multi professional team including psychologists, behavioural support specialists, nurses and psychiatrists. We work with other health and social care teams as part of the MHLD Neurodevelopment Division. We provide mental health assessments, therapy and advice on services and treatment options to help people with learning disabilities maintain their health and independence.

The Southwark Intensive Support Team (IST)

The Southwark Intensive Support Team is a small multi-agency service in Southwark working across South London and Maudsley (SLaM), Guys and St Thomas (GSTT) and Southwark Social Services. IST is an intensive community support service in the context of the Transforming Care agenda. IST sits alongside the MHLD team and clients can be stepped up from MHLD to IST when needed. IST provide a service for adults from Southwark who have a learning disability and whose behaviour is severely challenging, placing them at risk of family/placement breakdowns or hospital admissions. The IST provide intensive and flexible input for individuals whose behaviour places them at risk of family/placement breakdown or hospital admission, with the aim of supporting them to stay in Southwark close to their family in the least restrictive environment possible. We work in partnership with individuals and their support network to ensure people are safe and have the best quality of life possible.

Please complete the referral form and return this form via email to referralsmhld@slam.nhs.uk or alternatively by post to: Team Leader MHLD Southwark Clinical Treatment Centre (CTC) Maudsley Hospital Denmark Hill London SE5 8AZ

An integral part of the Mental Health-Learning Disabilities services provided by the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust is the Estia Centre. The Estia Centre is a training, research and development resource that specialises in the mental health needs of adults with learning disabilities. The Estia Centre aims to support the development of a competent workforce, from support staff to experienced managers and from a variety of services. We hope to achieve this by offering a high-quality portfolio of training opportunities, including workshops, conferences, training publications, journals and good practice guidance. The Centre is also part of the Institute of Psychiatry, where we aim to improve the care of adults with learning disabilities and mental health needs through our research initiatives that develop evidence-based practice.