Liaison and Diversion Services rolled out in Southend, Basildon and Thurrock

On January 4 2014 the Department of Health announced that an extra £25 million of funding would be provided for mental health nurses and other mental health professionals to work within police stations and courts so that people with vulnerabilities get the right treatment as quickly as possible with the aim to help reduce re-offending.

The Criminal Justice Liaison and Diversion service is provided by South Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (SEPT) and the Social Care Departments of Southend Borough Council, Thurrock Council and Essex County Council. Together the team are able to provide a range of support services for ‘vulnerable’ people (including children and young people) with learning disabilities or learning difficulties, mental health problems, gender, age, alcohol/substance misuse, housing issues and financial issues) attending the police station or magistrates court.

Services are now available within the Southend, Basildon and Grays police station as well as the Southend and Basildon magistrates courts, where expert teams made up of nurses, doctors, therapists, social workers, support workers and administration staff are able to provide a comprehensive range of services that can help in many different ways.

The Criminal Justice Liaison and Diversion Services are available to all ‘vulnerable’ adults, young people and children over the age of ten years old who are in the criminal justice system and have been identified as having mental health problems, learning disabilities or difficulties, cognitive disorder, substance misuse and other vulnerabilities.

The specialist support is now in place 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. People that require the support of the team are either able to ‘self-refer’ or can ask for someone within the above mentioned police stations or magistrates courts to refer them.

Sometimes the support offered to individuals will be over the phone, but wherever possible someone from the Criminal Justice Liaison and Diversion team will be sent to meet with the individual at the police station or court. This enables team workers to discuss individual circumstances and refer people to the appropriate services available to help them.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

The Criminal Justice Liaison and Diversion Team at South Essex Partnership Trust (SEPT) were successful in their bid to provide one of ten national pilot sites in South East Essex. Working closely with NHS England, and the Department of Health and Ministry of Justice; a new model of the Liaison and Diversion is being implemented to provide specialised support service that extends into police stations, the courts, prisons and probation services.

Working jointly with other professionals the Criminal Justice Liaison and Diversion services are intended to support people beyond the police station and courts; the team are able to refer those that need additional assistance onto other services that can help with housing, social and financial benefits, assistance with local GP’s, therapy, education and employment, probation and youth offending as well as referral’s for specialist services helping those with a history of mental health issues; drug or alcohol misuse; speech, learning or language disabilities and those with a diagnosis of Autism or Asperger’s syndrome.

The Criminal Justice Liaison and Diversion teams provide comprehensive service including:

• screening people within the criminal justice system at the earliest opportunity and ensuring that their needs are met in the best setting, be it hospital, community or custody;
• providing one point of access for criminal justice agencies to request information and advice, or assessment of people who appear to present symptoms of mental health or have a history of mental health problems;
• act as a conduit for individuals who are due for release from prison to ensure appropriate referral on to mental health services;
• attending multi-agency public protection meetings to assist in the management of complex cases;
• providing training on mental health to criminal justice agencies;
• providing information to offender managers to inform pre- sentence reports and enable appropriate disposals from court.