Our Mission Statement
We strive to influence the delivery of mental health services provided to autistic people within Lancashire and South Cumbria. Seeking to better meet individual needs and improve quality of life through collaboration with each individual and their circle of support.
Our Service Aims
- We work together in collaboration with mental health services to prevent clinically avoidable or unnecessary admissions to acute mental health inpatient settings.
- We contribute towards improving the quality of community mental health and inpatient treatment and support.
- We support awareness and the development of appropriate reasonable adjustments to support the accessibility of our mental health services.
- We promote a culture of acceptance of Neurodivergence
- Our service contribute towards timely and safe discharge from hospital, working in collaboration with the multi-agency team.
Who we support
The team specialises in providing therapeutic intervention for autistic people, and professional consultation and training to colleagues within LSCft working with autistic people. The team comprises of Nurses, Occupational Therapists, Speech and Language Therapists, Therapy Assistants and Psychologists who are able to offer person centered, bespoke assessment and intervention.
The Specialist Autism Team works with autistic individuals who are able to provide formal evidence and those who are on the autism diagnostic pathway (and able to provide evidence of this), aged 16+ who reside in Lancashire and South Cumbria.
The service works with Individuals who are currently experiencing one of the below set of circumstances:
- At risk of admission to mental health hospital settings, potentially within the next twelve weeks and are under the care of secondary mental health services.
- Currently admitted to an LSCft acute mental health inpatient setting.
The Specialist Autism Team works with autistic individuals both in community and acute mental health inpatient settings. We work with autistic individuals who reside in the community, working in collaboration with mental health colleagues to prevent unnecessary and avoidable admissions into mental health hospital settings, where it is deemed clinically safe and appropriate to offer community intervention and support.
In circumstances where admission to an acute mental health inpatient setting is deemed both necessary and appropriate, the team will work with inpatient mental health colleagues seeking to contribute towards a more therapeutic admission being achieved through the incorporation of an autism informed formulation of need.
Where we work
The team works across the Lancashire and South Cumbria Footprint. 