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Forensic outreach liaison service (FOLS)
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About the service
FOLS LD/A provide enhanced care and treatment in a community setting to keep individuals out of secure hospital and prison, by working to reduce their risk of encountering the Criminal Justice System in the first place.
We support men and women aged 18 and above who have a learning disability and/or autism that have come into contact with the criminal justice system/a secure hospital or are at risk of doing so.
The team
The Trust FOLS LD/A team consists of a variety of multi-disciplinary professionals from:
- Psychology
- Nursing
- Psychiatry
- Occupational therapy
- Social work
- Speech and language therapy
Each professional has a range of specialist experience of working with individuals with a learning disability and/or autism, displaying high risk of concerning/offending behaviours. Additionally, as a team they have an extensive knowledge of the forensic/criminal justice system.
The service provision
Guided by the ‘Transforming Care; National Service Model’, FOLS offer six core functions:
- Forensic risk assessment and management
- Offence specific interventions
- Case management
- Support and training to those who provide day-to-day support in the community
- Consultation and advice
- In reach support
Resources
- Forensic outreach liaison service information
- Leaflet for referrers
- Leaflet for service users
- Flyer for service users
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Feedback
As part of continuing to improve and develop our service, we would value and appreciate your feedback of our service. Our surveys will only take around two minutes and we would be grateful if you could complete them to help us collect feedback.
Feedback survey for service users, family, friends, or unpaid carers
Feedback survey for professionals, including paid carers
Why would someone choose the service?
- Our team work with you to understand your individual needs
- We can support you to contact other services to help to keep you well and safe such as housing, training, social activities
Staff you may meet
- Administrative staff provide essential support to doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals. This can be in a variety of different settings, with administrators working as a receptionist in a clinic or a clerk on a ward. They may also be working closely with a consultant as a medical secretary.
- There are more than 60 different specialities that doctors work within the NHS. Each is unique but there are many characteristics which are common. Roles range from working in a hospital to being based in the community as a GP.
- There are many people who work behind the scenes to keep services running and you may meet them in hospital or community settings. They include porters, cleaners, plumbers, electricians, decorators receptionists and secretaries who all work to make sure healthcare settings are kept clean, tidy and safe.
- Nurses who choose to specialise in the mental health branch of nursing work with GPs, psychiatrists, psychologists, and others, to help care for patients. Increasingly, care is given in the community, with mental health nurses visiting patients and their families at home, in residential centres, in prisons or in specialist clinics or units.
- Nursing or healthcare assistants work in hospital or community settings under the guidance of a qualified healthcare professional. They help doctors, nurses and therapists give people the care and treatment they need.
- Occupational therapy is the assessment and treatment of physical and psychiatric conditions using specific, purposeful activity to prevent disability and promote independent function in all aspects of daily life.
- The NHS employs a wide range of clinical staff, it wouldn’t be possible to list them all on this website! All our clinical staff are skilled, dedicated professionals who adhere to high standards of training and work-place practice.
- Adult psychotherapists work with people to assess and treat a range of emotional, social or mental health issues. They help people tackle problems such as behavioural issues, common challenges such as anxiety and depression or more complex or severe issues, such as psychosis or a personality disorder diagnosis.
- Social workers help, support and protect people who are facing difficulties in their lives. They help people to take positive steps to overcome problems and improve their lives. This could involve assessing and reviewing a service user’s situation, building relationships with service users and their families and agreeing what practical support someone needs.
- We have a range of specialist advisors working in our Trust – they give advice on a wide range of different things, depending on what service they work in. So it could be, for example, mental health, stopping smoking, healthy eating or diabetes.
- We have a range of health workers who all have different specialities. This could be in a certain condition, a therapy or the advice they can give you. Our specialists our highly skilled and trained professionals, ready to offer you help and advice whenever you need it.
Why a professional should choose the service
FOLS aims to:
- Improve a service user’s quality of life
- Keep people safe
- Provide choice and control
- Provide support and intervention
- Promote equitable outcomes
Support offered
Each person in our team has a range of specialist expertise in working with people displaying high risk and concerning behaviours as well as expertise within the forensic/criminal justice system.
Support from FOLS may include:
Discharge from secure settings
Specialist assessment and advice
Specialist interventions of offending behaviours
Training
Specialist risk assessments
Outcomes
FOLS will work with the local community learning disability teams (including intensive support teams) and mental health teams to support individuals who display offending behaviour more effectively within the community, safely managing risk and avoiding contact with the criminal justice system or admission to secure hospital where possible.
Referrals accepted from:
AHPs, Carers/family, CMHTs, Consultants, Courts, Drug/alcohol agencies, GP staff, GPs, Health visitors, Hospital staff, Housing associations, Local authority staff, Midwives, Other NHS services, Other Trust services, Patients(self-referral), Police, Schools, Voluntary services, Youth centres, Youth Offending Team
Referral criteria:
People aged 18 years and above who have a learning disability or autism or both that have come into contact with the criminal justice system or been admitted to a secure hospital setting.
Make a referral