The Newcastle Community Team for Learning Disabilities is based at Benton House in Newcastle.

The Adult team provides specialist assessment and treatment to people aged 18 years and over with a learning disability and additional health needs, where the person’s needs are complex and require an integrated approach to care and treatment that cannot be met through mainstream services.

Outreach clinic to provide people with a learning disability who have offended or show offending type behaviour(s), and those involved in caring for them the opportunity to seek advice and support on managing day to day forensic issues.

Areas covered: Cumbria, Sunderland and Newcastle

How to get referred:

Referrals must be made through local community nursing teams for each locality.

The team will work with children/young people between the ages of 4-18 with a learning disability and or Autism Spectrum Disorder where their behaviour that challenges occurs as a result of the young person having limited abilities to communicate distress, and get their needs met in other more adaptive ways.

How to refer:

All referrals must come from a Community CYPS team; it is essential that a care co-ordinator is identified. Consultation clinics are held monthly in each locality where potential referrals can be taken to be discussed.

The Secure Outreach Transition Team (SOTT), provides assessment, intervention, treatment, management and supervision for service users with a learning disability and/or autism spectrum disorder who are:
• Currently in secure care
• In the community following discharge from a period of secure care
• In the community having been referred due to offences or offending behaviour that represents a risk to the general public and who potentially may require admission to secure care.

We are one of the UK’s leading providers of mental health services who work both privately and with the NHS to help people and families experiencing mental and emotional difficulties to get better.

Get professional support from the UK's leading mental health, autism, and ADHD service.

Easy Health has over 390 health guides with pictures and simple words. These guides help people who find reading hard to understand health information better.  It can help people with learning disabilities. 

GriffinOT helps children to achieve their full potential by equipping the adults around them with the tools they need to help.  This includes supporting educators, parents, and other professionals.

Newcastle and Gateshead Step Up Hub service is for men and women over the age of 18 years who need some specialist support to live in the community.

We are Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy Charity!

As the UK’s largest music therapy charity, we use music to enrich the lives of people with life-limiting illness, disabilities or feelings of isolation.

There are one-to-one music lessons delivered by music therapists. This is suited for people with autism or learning difficulties. Click here to learn more and to apply: Accessible music learning - Nordoff and Robbins.

This service is not provided by the NHS.

Disabled Children’s Register

By law we are required to keep a Disabled Children’s Register. We use it to help us improve services now and in the future.

By being on the register you will be kept informed of what services are available and how you can get involved if you want to.  Joining the register is voluntary but if you register your child we will:

Ambitious about Autism has a rapidly growing online Ambitious Youth Network to enable more autistic young people to have their voices heard. Through the network, autistic young people between the ages of 16 to 25 can share experiences, connect with others, have their say on Ambitious about Autism’s projects as well as access a range of opportunities to advocate and improve services for autistic young people.  

What we do

We produce evidence-based short films and factsheets to help teachers, parents, carers and others working with children to help recognise any potential mental health issues in Primary School aged children.  These are freely available on our website Nip in the Bud.  
We believe passionately that early intervention reduces the risk of these issues becoming more serious in later years.

What is Makaton?

Makaton is a unique language programme that uses symbols, signs and speech to enable people to communicate.

It supports the development of essential communication skills such as:

• Attention and Listening
• Comprehension
• Memory
• Recall and Organisation of Language
• Expression.

It is designed to support spoken language and the signs and symbols are used with speech, in spoken word order.

Our Story

Daisy Chain provides a range of support services to autistic children and adults, either with a diagnosis or who are undergoing the diagnostic process, their parents/carers and their siblings.

Daisy Chain began life in 2003 as the dream of its founder, Lesley Hanson, whose son Jacob was diagnosed as autistic at an early age.

The British Society for Paediatric Dentistry has launched a set of infographics with the Top 3 tips for preventing tooth decay aimed at improving oral health which have now been translated into the five languages.  

The aim is that the infographics will be widely used by both dental and non-dental healthcare professionals to support conversations about good oral health behaviours and become a key tool for in-surgery preventive advice. BSPD’s Top 3 tips for preventing tooth decay is now available in the following languages:

1. Punjabi

Are you a neurodivergent young person aged 16-25 who could benefit from a mentor to support you with the skills for employment? 

The Neurodiversity Employability Project works with neurodivergent young people, whether you have a formal diagnosis or self-identify. We match young people across Tyne and Wear with mentors who can help you: