Tough
Times Raising the profile
of adults with learning disabilities ‘stuck’
in the secure care system.
The “Tough Times”
project is an initiative from the NDT in partnership
with the Department of Health that started work in
2004. It has focused on the needs of people with learning
disabilities who find themselves in secure services.
Many of those people will have behaviours that severely
challenge service systems, mental health problems,
or who have, or are at risk of offending.
These are the people who remain at greatest risk of
placement within services distant from their homes,
relatives and localities, and who are least likely
to return. They are also the people who are most likely
to be placed as a ‘crisis’ response in high
cost services that are not always appropriate to their
needs.
The financial and human cost of continuing these arrangements
is too high a price to pay for the individuals and
their families – out of sight must never be out
of mind!
Lead by Wendy Silberman, Associate Consultant with
the NDT and an expert in mental health and forensic
services, the project has brought together key stakeholders
to identify local issues and service deficits. You
can access reports of the work and its outcomes of
work here.
The learning from the
project has also informed a new
consultancy package focused on supporting people
to return home from secure and out-of-area placements.
Information
about the NDT's work with secure services
Support to
the commissioners and providers of secure
services, and to the people living inside
them, is an important strand of the NDT's
work. On this page there is a summary of
the NDT's Tough Times project, and on linked
pages there is more information about -
