Social Services Review

[BigPurpleBookQueen]

Can anyone offer any advice on what we should expect in our social services assessment for young adult son with SEN.
he desperately needs some counselling for anxiety, he has been referred by his college. The college said social services could arrange this (our GP started the process with a mental health referral)) but when I mentioned to social worker on phone she said no that’s not something they can do.
does anyone have any experience with this?

we have been stuck in a loop with NHS mental health services for months about some help, they keep offering phone counselling which due to his ASD is no good. Also he is apparently not autistic enough for special needs mental health but he is too autistic for mainstream - it is so frustrating.

It can help to make notes beforehand. How old is DS? This guide from Contact covers children’s social care assessments. This Mencap guide is helpful for ideas of what will be covered for adult social care assessments.

Therapies aren’t something that is typically provided by social care.

Does he have an EHCP?

Sin is 25, finished college last September, it’s taken 13 months in waiting list to get initial appointment/assessment. Social services contacted us three times in last year saying sorry, really busy you are still in our list we will get to you.
we are quite exhausted, he has just been at home for over a year now & we don’t know what to do. NAS site says social services should be able to sort counselling & SEND at college thought so too.
we don’t know what to ask or what to expect but we know we don’t want different people turning up to take him out for a walk each week.

While adult social care can, in theory, fund therapeutic input, they rarely do in practice. It is more common for them facilitate a referral via the normal NHS or charity processes.

Agree with the previous posters, the only time we were able to access (physio) NHS therapy was via the consultant' referral.

We also had a recent SS assessment and in all honesty it was just a paper exercise although we managed to get a bit more carers help and a promise of a respite which we need to find ourselves.

It’s this need to sort it out yourself that just floors us. My husband & I both wirk full time, myself days & hubby evenings do that one of us is home with DS. We are overwhelmed, the mental load is full & there is no capacity for any more.
we have been through NHS GP referral but local MH dept told us there is no NHS help available.
We have never had any help ever, he had EHCP & was helped when at school & college but not outside of that, now education has ended we feel like we’ve dropped off a cliff.
think the poor social worker is going to get a lot landed on her next week.

Have you looked at being referred out of area?

When DS had an EHCP, if MH support was required, it should have been in the EHCP.

MH issues/anxiety started when college ceased & EHCP ended. Our GP has been very good & got us an appointment but the Doctor we saw said unless son is self- harming (which thankfully he is not) there is no help available, only phone/talk therapy which isn’t appropriate for son.

I would look at a referral out of area. If you can get a referral Maudsley has a good specialist adult ADHD and autism service that accepts referrals from across the country.

Thank you for the idea but life is hard enough at the moment without the added complication of getting to somewhere miles & miles from home.
we have managed all thee years & now n my husband & I are getting older we just want some help you know. We waited & waited for social services to get in touch & now from what I have read it will just be a paper exercise & we willbe expected to take in more.
feeling a bit down at the moment - parenthood eh.

Social care can provide support. You may have to push, many do, but they can provide support. What is unlikely though is that support taking the form of funding MH therapy because that doesn’t happen often. As well as an assessment of DS’s needs, have you requested a carer’s assessment?

You could always request a referral somewhere out of area but closer to you. DS may be eligible for hospital transport. Some of Maudsley’s work is done virtually if that would work for DS.