The Challenge
The Coast Team were aware of the variety in provision for young people displaying emotional and behavioural challenges. There was no clear pathway through which these young people and their families could be guided, in order to access appropriate services, resulting in delayed support to these children and families.
The Project Team
Covers the coastal area of Scarborough, Whitby and Filey. The group was made up of an integrated services manager, 2 assistant head teachers, a senior educational psychologist, 2 children's centre managers and health service professionals including the manager of the local Children & Adolescents Mental Health Service team.
The Results
Despite the complex nature of the problem, the group have developed a model and a method to reduce the number of incorrect referrals of children displaying behavioural challenges. The process that has been developed provides a clear referral pathway which will improve the process of young people accessing the right services. The implementation of this pathway will result in earlier intervention to support children that display behavioural challenges and their families. This process will also provide savings in both time and money.
Next Steps
The team will publish a referral pathway document, which has already gained approval in principle for implementation. Further, they will consider the training implications and offer advice in order to roll it out across all services, especially GPs in the area.
Team Leader Comments on the MATD programme
"Being able to drive forward a project yet assess alongside it the process of how we were team-working, reviewing the strengths and challenges as we went along, was invaluable."
Tony Turner, Integrated Services Team Manager, Coast Team