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Identifying an Intellectual Disability is important to a young person, their family, carers and services e.g. education, health or social care. A variety of evidence should be considered when diagnosing or formulating, with a view to creating a person-centred plan to meet a person’s needs. It is very important to be aspirational for everyone with an ID in terms of quality of life and life outcomes. Having an ID should not be seen as an impairment, nor a barrier to having a good life and a full life like everyone else.

It is organised by the Child & Adolescent Intellectual Disability Psychiatry Network of ACAMH, known as CAIDPN.

Key learning takeaways

1. Improve knowledge of physical health in children and young people with an intellectual disability
2. Increased awareness of the roles of allied health professionals in caring for children and young people with an intellectual disability
3. To gain update on service delivery issues in working with children and young people with an intellectual disability and their families from the perspectives of national clinical director, expert by experience and lead consultants.

Who should attend

Allied health professionals working with child and young people with an intellectual disability.

Programme

09:15 Registration and coffee

09:35 Dr Amy Blake Welcome

Morning session chaired by Dr Priyanka Palimar

09:40 Dr Ken Courtenay – Keynote: ‘The role of the National Clinical Director for Learning Disabilities and Autism in CYP with intellectual disabilities’

10:10 Questions & Discussion

10:30 Dr. Carole Buckley – ‘Mum, GP, expert – how to get the best outcomes for your patients’

11:00 Questions & Discussion

11:20 Break

11:50 Dr. Heather Hanna – Keynote: ‘CAMHS for children and young people with intellectual disability (lessons learned from Northern Ireland)’

12:20 Questions & Discussion

12:45 Lunch

Afternoon session chaired by Dr Amy Blake

13:30: Dr. Liz Ashby – ‘Surviving occupational stress and burnout creatively’

14:15 Lauren Preece – ‘Sharing educational information, specifically assessments, with health staff’

15:00 Break

15:30 Dr. Georgina Parkes – ‘Trauma in learning disabilities and autism ’

16:15 Dr Elizabeth O’Rourke Closing comments

16:30 End

About the talks

Dr. Heather Hanna – Keynote: ‘CAMHS for children and young people with intellectual disability (lessons learned from Northern Ireland)’
Heather will talk about CAMHS services in Northern Ireland, and setting up Northern Ireland’s first CAMHS-ID team ten years ago. Heather views this service development as a “twenty year project” and will talk about her journey so far – sharing lessons learnt in relation to all aspects of service development. Heather started as a sole practitioner in 2014 but now works with a team of almost 15 people to provide specialist, therapeutic interventions including early group-based interventions and intensive outreach. She will share her recent experience of working with the Department of Health to help support the development of services across Northern Ireland.

Key learning outcomes

1. To understand best practice guidance in relation to community-based CAMHS-ID
2. To understand the challenges and opportunities, such as balancing innovation and governance, developing practitioner skills and working well with others.
3. To recognise the importance of focusing on the needs and rights of children, in order to improve outcomes

Lauren Preece – ‘Sharing educational information, specifically assessments, with health staff’
An overview of education at Jade Unit, what we do and how we work. How we have applied the research conducted analysing accessible sharing of educational assessment and the terminology used by education with the MDT, within a tier 4 CAMHS service for children and young people who have a significant or complex learning disability.

Key learning outcomes

1. To understand more about how education works within Jade Unit
2. To understand more about the information shared between the education and health teams at Jade Unit
3. To understand how educational assessment sharing has been improved

Liz Ashby – ‘Surviving occupational stress and burnout creatively’
Liz researched burnout to inform herself and her colleagues about ways to manage their stress in the work context; she interviewed 15 art therapists across England about how they were managing in their work context, and documented their responses and strategies for self-care. She also looked into resilience and how you develop that, and all this made her very resilient!

Key learning outcomes

1. To recognise how stressed you are
2. To understand ways of managing that
3. To understand how to stay as well as possible

Dr. Georgina Parkes – ‘Trauma in learning disabilities and autism’
When children and young people with autism and learning disabilities experience trauma how does it present in clinical settings? How can clinicians diagnose PTSD and complex PTSD when history of trauma is often absent initially? In this workshop we will discuss these and other clinical dilemmas. I will discuss cases and can offer discussion of cases brought by participants. I have experience and training in psychodynamic psychotherapy and use these insights to inform clinical practice. I currently work in an inpatient CAMHS LD setting.

Key learning outcomes

1. To recognise the impact of trauma in young people with LD and autism.
2. To be able to diagnose PTSD and complex PTSD in this group of young people.
3. To think about the impact on the clinician.

About the speakers

Dr. Ken Courtenay, is a Consultant Psychiatrist in Learning Disability. He has supported people with learning disabilities and autistic people in community services since 1998. He has recently taken on the role of National Clinical Director for Learning Disabilities and Autism. Currently, he is employed by Barnet Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust working in offender services for people with learning disabilities. He has been the National Professional Advisor with the Care Quality Commission since 2020. Professional roles have included Chair of the Faculty of Psychiatry of Intellectual Disability with the Royal College of Psychiatrists (2018 – 2022) and President of the European Association for Mental Health and Intellectual Disabilities (2023 – 2025)

Dr. Liz Ashby, has worked as an art therapist in CWPT since 1998, in learning disabilities services and older adults.  She started her PhD after a colleague burnt out and the Trust demonstrated little understanding of the condition.  Now Liz provides teaching about the process of burnout and how to manage our own occupational stress.

Lauren Preece, is a school teacher for children with SEN in a Tier 4 specialist inpatient setting. She recently completed a Masters Degree in profound and multiple learning disabilities focussing on education for children and young people who have both learning disabilities and mental illness. She is currently planning to embarking on a PhD continuing her research with a provisional focus on trauma. She has an interest in MDT working, and this is what drew her to working within a T4 service. She has completed research on sharing information between professionals within health and education settings which has enabled policy and practice changes within the setting.

Dr. Georgina Parkes is a Consultant Psychiatrist at Crystal House, CAMHS ID inpatient unit, with 20 years experience working across ID services. She’s also Honorary Senior Lecturer, University of Hertfordshire, Treasurer, Institute of Psychotherapy and Disability, Executive Coach and Balint group leader. She has written about the impact of trauma in people with ID in “Treating with Respect” due 2025. Authored chapters in Intellectual Disability and Psychotherapy and DMID 2 amongst others. She has first hand experience of the challenges facing adolescents with ID who require treatment within specialist inpatient settings, discussing trends around referrals over the last 4 years.

Dr. Heather Hanna is a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist in Intellectual Disability. She is the clinical lead for a CAMHS-ID team, based in Northern Ireland. Heather was awarded UK Psychiatrist of the Year in 2018, by the Royal College of Psychiatrists, for her role in setting up Northern Ireland’s first CAMHS-ID team. She now works with the Department of Health (NI) to address the need for service development across the region. Heather is the current chair of the Intellectual Disability Faculty of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Northern Ireland and Vice-Chair of the Child and Adolescent Intellectual Disability Psychiatry Network. Heather has interests in service development, restraint reduction and improving outcomes for children and young people with intellectual disability.

About the Hotel

Windmill Village Hotel Golf Club & Spa Coventry, BW Signature Collection by Best Western

“Located in a picturesque and secluded part of the West Midlands countryside, the Windmill Village Hotel Golf Club & Spa Coventry, BW Signature Collection by Best Western provides quality 4 star accommodation with diverse conference and banqueting facilities alongside luxury spa day experiences, all accentuated by a glorious 18-hole golf course and stunning rural countryside. Perfect for both business or leisure.”

Nearest motorway: M42, J6, 5 miles
Nearest train station: Birmingham International, 7.3 miles
Nearest airport: Birmingham, 7.2 miles
Free parking on site (250 spaces)