Services for people with challenging behaviour and mental health needs at risk of offending

The closure of long-stay hospitals and the emphasis on community living have highlighted the challenges services face in meeting the needs of some individuals. Government reports since 1990 on services for people with mental health needs, learning disabilities, challenging behaviour and/or criminal offending have recommended community living whenever possible, outlined the characteristics of good services and made suggestions about how these might be achieved (Department of Health, 1992; Department of Health, 1993; Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1996; NHS Executive, 1998). Nevertheless, most health and social service providers still find it difficult to attain the kinds of service proposed and Bouras (1999) recently concluded that this was partly a result of the separation of services for people with learning disabilities from mainstream mental health services. This paper reports the experience of a local service development intervention designed around the needs of this client group