The Swindon Learning Disability Children & Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) works with children who have a learning disability and may also be autistic or have ADHD. They support children and their families in such areas as positive behaviour support, sleep, resistive eating (including Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder), complex toileting issues and mental health.
Their aim is to improve the quality of life and actively engage with a wide network of other agencies to achieve this.
The team consists of two learning disability nurses, a psychiatrist and recently they have been joined by a psychologist. A young person may be seen by a single member of the team, however, should their needs present as more complex, then they could by more than one professional.
A parent who left a review said: “We felt like everything we said was taken seriously and our opinions mattered. All questions were answered, and we were provided with amazing support and advice from two lovely ladies who we have been having video calls with. Since our son’s care has been moved over to CAMHS we feel so much more positive and reassured.”
Kirk Anderson, said: “We have spent the last 18 months with a few vacancies within the team, so it really is reassuring to hear we have been getting some good feedback on I Want Great Care, especially as this has coincided with the pandemic.
“We have had the honour of being involved in the training of both student learning disability and more recently mental health nurses, as well as trainee doctors. I want to acknowledge how supportive they have been through what has been a challenging time.”
One mum said: “Our learning disability nurse has been a total god send, he listens and advices very clearly to any questions and our thoughts. Our twin’s lives have been greatly improved by the extra attention and interaction we can offer following his help. He was always friendly and approachable.”
“The support I received was informative and enormously helpful”, said another parent. “He was familiar with the needs of our family and the impact my son’s disability had on us all. He has given us invaluable advice and has responded quickly and promptly at times when our difficulties have threatened to overwhelm us. I feel enormously fortunate to have benefited from this service.”
To find out more about this service click here.
Published: 18 June 2021