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

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 and
autism. Invariably, service development is influenced by research and recent guidance from the Royal
College of Psychiatrists (March 2020) suggests there is a "lack of high-quality evidence on people with
mental health problems and mild ID echoed throughout the literature." (pg.13) It is therefore
unsurprising that not all local areas provide specialist services for those with LD and autism and
consequently users must rely on general mental health services to support them.
The above listed research project recognises the continuing difficulties of autistic young people with
complex needs within health and care systems and it will attempt to develop a better understanding of
what 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 and
educational support services for young people with autism and learning disabilities (or lack thereof) and
more specifically, of Care, Education and Treatment Reviews (CETRs) and the wider NHS Transforming
Care agenda. Consequently, I have a strong understanding of 'on the ground' practice relating to the
identifyication of children and young people at risk of admission and will be able to competently identify
and 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 my
experience working with autistic young people (as an LSA, Education Welfare Officer and Special Needs
Officer) will enable me to utilise a range of communication approaches (including the use of visual
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supports) to effectively secure their views. Further, my experience of co-production through stakeholder
consultation and service re-design will support the development of this project in a way that is truly
participatory.
The project will explore the following research questions:
1. What are the views and experiences of service provision of children and young people being supported
by the Care and Education Treatment Review (CETR) Team?
2. How can local service providers develop a strengths-based approach to supporting autistic young
people 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 respectfully
accessed and shared?
This will be an interdisciplinary, community-based participatory research approach designed to address
these specific local needs that will also have much wider national applicability and interest. I will bring a
unique, real-world perspective to developing the research design and I am greatly excited by the
opporunity to disseminate the findings in a way that may influence practice at both a local and national
level.