Friday 14 November 2008
Fee: £150
Venue: Tavistock Centre, London

This conference explores the themes raised by the Government report “Valuing People Now” which highlights the inequality of services for this patient group. Through clinical presentations we will examine which factors play a role in inhibiting and undermining professional capacities to provide adequate services. These themes will be examined further in work  discussion groups, in the context of the participants’ own work settings.

The Learning and Complex Disabilities Service (LCDS) was founded in 1995, following on from the pioneering work of Valerie Sinason, our guest speaker, and others in the Tavistock Clinic who initiated the provision of psychoanalytic psychotherapy to adults with learning disabilities - a group who until then had been denied access to this form of treatment. In this conference we will explore the barriers which still very much exist today, as evidenced in the paucity of therapeutic services for the learning disabled.

The LCDS offers psychotherapy to children, adolescents and adults with learning and complex disabilities, broadening access across the age range and, in addition, provides consultation to professional networks. Members of the clinical team will be presenting papers which reflect the range of work of the LCDS, including therapy with people with complex disabilities such as autism and Asperger’s syndrome alongside learning disabilities.

This conference will be of interest to professionals across the mental health field and related disciplines such as psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, psychotherapists, counsellors, social workers, teachers, keyworkers and carers who work with people of all ages who have learning and complex disabilities.