Psychological therapies practice guide for learning disabilities
The Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme aims to provide equitable access to NICE-recommended psychological therapies to people from all sectors of the community. There is evidence that people with mild to moderate learning disabilities can benefit from the therapies offered by IAPT services, especially when reasonable adjustments are made to the way in which these therapies are delivered.
This Positive Practice Guide, which is written by experts in learning disabilities, summarises the needs of people with learning disabilities and clearly outlines the reasonable adjustments that are recommended to ensure that people with learning disabilities get the maximum benefit from treatment within an IAPT service.
The guide is informed by a three-year project run by FPLD in partnership with Kings College, London and Cumbria Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, and funded by the Department of Health. It is aimed at those who work in, commission, or refer to the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services. It provides useful information regarding how best to support people with learning disabilities to access their local IAPT service, including numerous practical examples of how to make reasonable adjustments to achieve this.
The teams involved in the fpld programme developed reasonable adjustments and different models of working that greatly impacted on their clinical practice when working with people with learning disabilities.
- Setting up a flagging system at the referral stage to alert practitioners that the person referred has literacy difficulties or a learning disability and require reasonable adjustments.
- The development of pathways to direct someone presenting with depression or anxiety to the most appropriate service.
- Easy-read resources.
- Involving family members in therapy and in homework tasks.
- Ensuring that they were able to keep track of numbers of people with learning disabilities seen and recovery rates on National Data Set.
All participants reported that some of the reasonable adjustments to their clinical practice had increased their efficacy with all their clients.
The IAPT programme is uniquely placed within the mental healthcare pathway to support people with learning disabilities who present with depression and anxiety. There is evidence that people with learning disabilities can benefit from the therapies offered by IAPT services. This guide will support the skilled IAPT practitioners to be able to identify and provide the reasonable adjustments required for people with learning disabilities to be able to access their services.
Christine-Koulla Burke- FPLD/ Access to IAPT Programme lead, and one of the authors of the report, said: “We know that people with learning disabilities who may need support with their mental health do not receive prompt and timely access to mental health services so access to IAPT would go a long way in promoting better mental health. This guide sets out some practical steps that IAPT practitioners can take to ensure equality of access.”
Download the guide here: http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/content/assets/PDF/publications/FPLD-positive-practice-guide.pdf?view=Standard
