Falling through the gaps? Investigating the experiences of autistic young people within Care and Education Treatment Reviews

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Despite specific reference to the management of autism and mental illness with learning disabilities (LD)within NICE Guidelines, a key challenge is access to suitable mental health services for those with LD andautism. Invariably, service development is influenced by research and recent guidance from the RoyalCollege of Psychiatrists (March 2020) suggests there is a "lack of high-quality evidence on people withmental health problems and mild ID echoed throughout the literature." (pg.13) It is thereforeunsurprising that not all local areas provide specialist services for those with LD and autism andconsequently users must rely on general mental health services to support them.The above listed research project recognises the continuing difficulties of autistic young people withcomplex needs within health and care systems and it will attempt to develop a better understanding ofwhat bespoke service provision (and thus improved outcomes) could look like for autistic service users,based on the direct views and experiences of young people themselves.Through working across local authority SEND services, I have direct experience of mental health andeducational support services for young people with autism and learning disabilities (or lack thereof) andmore specifically, of Care, Education and Treatment Reviews (CETRs) and the wider NHS TransformingCare agenda. Consequently, I have a strong understanding of 'on the ground' practice relating to theidentifyication of children and young people at risk of admission and will be able to competently identifyand explore many of the challenges that exist with the design, access and impact of CETRs.Capturing the views of autistic young people with learning disabilities is central to this project and myexperience working with autistic young people (as an LSA, Education Welfare Officer and Special NeedsOfficer) will enable me to utilise a range of communication approaches (including the use of visual14 / 16supports) to effectively secure their views. Further, my experience of co-production through stakeholderconsultation and service re-design will support the development of this project in a way that is trulyparticipatory.The project will explore the following research questions:1. What are the views and experiences of service provision of children and young people being supportedby the Care and Education Treatment Review (CETR) Team?2. How can local service providers develop a strengths-based approach to supporting autistic youngpeople under the remit of the CETR team, thereby improving their outcomes?3. How can the views of autistic young people with learning disabilities be authentically and respectfullyaccessed and shared?This will be an interdisciplinary, community-based participatory research approach designed to addressthese specific local needs that will also have much wider national applicability and interest. I will bring aunique, real-world perspective to developing the research design and I am greatly excited by theopporunity to disseminate the findings in a way that may influence practice at both a local and nationallevel.