Indirect intervention with staff to support a male with mild learning disability navigate the community setting: A clinical case study

Background

People with learning disabilities following a long-term stay in forensic settings may experience difficulties reintegrating in the wider community. Indirect interventions can be helpful for care providers and family members to reflect on their practices and improve the quality of life of people with learning disabilities. Although indirect interventions are being implemented in learning disability settings, research is limited.

Methods

This clinical case study recounts an indirect intervention with care providers of a male with mild learning disability.

Findings

We recount the referral and assessment processes, the initial hypotheses and formulation of the service users' presenting difficulties. We demonstrate how a systemically informed indirect intervention with staff can be used to improve the living conditions of a man with mild learning disability and provide reflections on working with multiple interdependent systems surrounding vulnerable individuals in a specialist learning disability setting.

Conclusion

Indirect interventions with the care networks supporting an individual with a learning disability can be a useful way to conceptualise the barriers and facilitators for community integration. Indirect interventions can also offer a reflective space for staff to share their own difficulties and prevent burnout.