Meet the Team: Learning Disabilities & Autism (LDA) specialist support
We sat down with Georgie, our Learning Disabilities and Autism (LDA) Art Therapist, and Molly, one of our LDA Specialist Support Workers, to find out more about what they get up to day-to-day, and why LDA expertise is so important for people that come to SARSAS.
How might someone access LDA support at SARSAS?
GEORGIE: So, the process is usually that clients get referred in by professionals, it might be a GP, or a social worker, or a community learning disabilities team, to name but a few. Clients can also refer themselves in, and we have easy-read versions of our referral form on our website, and volunteers on our helpline can also help people self-refer.
Then, someone would go on the waiting list for an assessment. We offer longer assessments for LDA clients, and can offer in-person assessments (rather than just on the phone) as well. For neurotypical clients it’s an hour-long call, but for clients with access needs this can be hour and a half.
The assessment can feel really long as we ask lots of questions to be really thorough, but we do offer breaks. It’s all about information gathering so we can find out what people would like, and what might work for them.
When someone then starts with us, what might that look like?
GEORGIE: Our LDA work is mainly a type of our Specialist Support Work (SSW) and Art Psychotherapy. In SSW, we share practical tips for people to feel more safe, grounding exercises to stay in the present, and we might go to external meetings with clients and advocate for them there.
SSW is often the beginning of people’s journeys and might be the support they need to feel regulated, and able to access counselling at some stage in the future.
MOLLY: SSW can really enable us to find the balance between emotional support and advocacy for people – particularly for autistic people/clients and people with learning disabilities as there are often a lot of different factors that come into play when people have complex needs.
GEORGIE: With those different factors as well, we can take a really flexible open approach – our LDA work is more adaptable according to clients’ needs – it can happen in client’s homes, or in neutral private spaces.
This means we can support people who are agoraphobic, or people who would prefer to stay inside where it feels safe and where you can control things. Also, we can mitigate sensory needs around public transport too.
MOLLY: Being adaptable is really important for all our services, not just for those with official Disability diagnoses. Lots of chronic pain conditions can be very common with people who have experienced sexual violence, and we will always try to respond to people’ specific needs whenever possible. This really forms part of our trauma-informed approach.
GEORGIE: It can be really difficult for people with really high anxiety levels to meet us – we’re effectively a stranger at the beginning, so we do as much as we can to meet in safe neutral spaces, sometimes there might be another worker supporting that person there too.
On a practical level, we might offer less sessions and shorter slots with LDA clients, so that it’s less overwhelming. A lot of the work gets done behind the scenes working with other agencies, for example there might be more safeguarding or more advocacy work.
We also adapt information for the client, with easy read formats for example, or changing how we send out letters and emails. SSW would look very different for an LDA client, as they might not be able to access services, they might not be able to read or write, or might not be able to research things on their own terms.
Art therapy can work well with LDA clients, can you tell us a bit more about that?
MOLLY: Well, interestingly enough, both Georgie and I have an Art Psychotherapy background, and while that’s not exclusively what we do, it’s interesting that our experiences in that drew us to this specialist work with autistic people/clients and people with learning disabilities.
Art Psychotherapy can be really helpful for a lot of people, as a lot of people struggle with words for feelings. We can feel things very separately to how we think things, and art can be a great way to explore that and find a creative language for it.
GEORGIE: Absolutely. Bringing creativity into trauma work can be so powerful, especially for LDA clients, but for everyone really. Trauma can be hard to vocalise, and having art materials on hand can make it easier to express difficult feelings.
MOLLY: And, with Art Psychotherapy, you can very symbolically show your trauma, maybe expressing things you can’t say or don’t have the words for. You can bring things to the table that you might not otherwise be able to feel or say or show.
GEORGIE: What’s helpful as well is that with Art Psychotherapy we might be at a table, or sitting side by side, instead of opposite each other. That can really allow people to feel safer and open up, and not have to feel so exposed or vulnerable.
“For our clients, the experience of being ‘othered’ may happen across many different aspects of their lives. They might never have had any emotional help with any of their experiences, and while it’s an experience of sexual violence that means they reach out for support, this can then bring a whole range of other issues to the surface.”
Molly (LDA Specialist Support Worker)
Why is this work important, do you think?
MOLLY: There are so few services specifically for people with LDA needs and experiences of sexual violence. And it’s so vital that there are specialist services.
People with LDA are 2-8x more likely to experience sexual violence.
People don’t appreciate that people with LDA needs are often a group who don’t get sex education, or it might be very limited. A huge problem that impacts this client group is a lack of access to information around things like consent.
GEORGIE: A lot of the work we do with clients is also about building self-worth. We talk a lot about “fight, flight, freeze, and fawn” and techniques for not having to go into the fawning response.
MOLLY: So true. People with learning disabilities have often been infantilised and desexualised, and so we’re working with people to build confidence to have healthy relationships as well.
It might be that we open up conversations around things like what to do if your partner is mean to you, in a way that is accessible but also empowering.
GEORGIE: Absolutely, it can be that assumption in education that people with LDA needs are child-like and won’t have partners, and that can leave people at far greater risk of exploitation or violence.
Not knowing your rights can leave you open to abuse.
What difference does this work make for clients?
MOLLY: For our clients, the experience of being ‘othered’ may happen across many different aspects of their lives. They might never have had any emotional help with any of their experiences, and while it’s an experience of sexual violence that means they reach out for support, this can then bring a whole range of other issues to the surface.
GEORGIE: Really true, and we find a lot of our clients feel othered or rejected by other services, so we try so hard to build that trust. We often hear along the lines of ‘so and so won’t work with me, I’ve been told I’m too complex’.
They might have experienced a lot of rejection before they even get through the door with us, and so it’s an amazing step for people to take.
We’ll always find ways to adapt, and to work with that person, no matter what different things they’re experiencing, and I think that’s what make the impact.
We wouldn’t turn someone away. Even if, for example, someone had high levels of aggression, we might just look at how to shift the session, for example we might do this online.
And what difference do you think this makes for SARSAS?
GEORGIE: The amazing thing about our expertise is that we’re able to consult with, and feed into the team, sharing the best ways to make adaptations for LDA clients going through counselling.
We can improve all our services, and make them more inclusive, by doing this work. We also have an advisory group for people who have been through LDA work with us, who want to help us make the work better.
We’re really proud of the open approach we take here, and we’re always learning and adapting.
You can find out more about our LDA support work here.
And if you’re a professional supporting autistic people and/or people with learning disabilities who have experienced sexual violence, you might find our LDA Toolkit helpful.
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