The Intensive Support Function (ISF) is a team of professionals with different specialisms and disciplines, such as:

  • Specialist practitioner
  • Clinical psychologist
  • Mental health practitioner
  • Positive behaviour support practitioner
  • Assistant psychologists
  • Associate practitioners
  • Clinical support workers
  • Administration support

The ISF is available across Cheshire East, and Cheshire West and Chester, working with children and young people with learning disabilities and/or autism, whose complex behavioural needs challenge their support system to the extent that there is a risk of hospital admission (or breakdown of their current placement).

The ISF aims to:

  • Enhance the support that is already provided by other services
  • Help identify and manage risk
  • Support with multi-agency planning and highly specialist assessment, where appropriate

The clinical practice of the ISF is underpinned by the values, theory and processes of Positive Behaviour Support (PBS), a  framework that aims to establish effective and ethical support for people who present with behaviours of concern.

Who is the service for?

The ISF is available for children and young people age five to 18 in Cheshire East, Cheshire West and Chester who have a diagnosis of learning disabilities and/or autism.

To be referred into the service, the young person will have complex behavioural needs that challenge their support system to the extent that there is a risk of hospital admission (or breakdown of their current placement), and the clinical input required is above and beyond what Learning Disability CYPMHS or 0-18 CYPMHS services are able to offer.

How to access the service

The ISF enhances the support that is already provided by other services, when the clinical input required is above and beyond what these services are able to offer.

Referrals to the ISF can be made by any professional who works with a child or young person that meets the eligibility criteria. We are not able to accept self-referrals to the ISF.

What happens at your first appointment?

Should it be deemed that the young person and their families would benefit from the support of the Intensive Support Function Team a first appointment will be arranged. Contact will be made via the young person and/or families preferred communication network and a personalised appointment will be made.  We as a service are keen to ensure that the first appointment is within the young person’s/families preferred environment such as home, neutral location or educational provision. We will also make contact the young person’s wider support network to obtain as much information as possible to aid our assessments and to reduce the need for duplicate information gathering.

Where we are based

We are based at Catherine House in Crewe, however we are keen to use young peoples’ preferred environment, homes or educational provisions.

This will all be discussed and agreed on with the young person and/or their families during the appointment planning process.

We are located within:
Catherine House
Eaton Street
Crewe
Cheshire
CW2 7EG

Our service opening hours are:
Monday 9-5pm
Tuesday 9-5pm
Wednesday 9-5pm
Thursday 9-5pm
Friday 9-5pm