The FOLS Team work with adults with a Learning Disability/Autism diagnosis who are at risk of or have been involved in the criminal justice system

Established in March 2021, the North East Lincolnshire Forensic Outreach Liaison Service (FOLS for short), are a dedicated and driven team available to any person over the age of 18 with a diagnosis of a Learning Disability and/or Autism which require specialist forensic support.

Our team directly support individuals with complex needs in both inpatient and community settings. We work with you as an individual in providing support to ensure the care and support you receive is appropriate to your needs.

What the FOLS team does

All our care and support is based on your individual needs. We will complete risk assessments and management strategies to support you and those involved in your support in the safest way possible.

If you reside in hospital, we can provide in-reach support for you and also ensure that discharge planning is timely, well-coordinated and safe. We provide consultation, support and collaboration working with a variety of partner agencies.

If you live in the community, we support and advise on the options available within the community, risk management strategies and reasonable adjustments. FOLS are available for input into care and treatment reviews.

We also provide offence-specific and intervention training through our wider team.

Working with internal and external partner agencies, FOLS provide training on a variety of topics to enhance client care or, for specific cases, to support staff confidence in working with a forensic population.

Training is directly linked to client care and specific cases and is adapted to meet the needs of the audience.

Our team

Our North East Lincolnshire service consists of;

• Two PBS (Positive Behaviour Support) Practitioners
• A PBS Specialist Lead
• A Forensic Case Manager
• Admin Support.

Our North East Lincs FOLS team work in partnership with the wider team across the Humber. The team comprises a wide range of suitably skilled clinical staff who can also deliver interventions that are offence specific.

Why you have been referred?

There are a number of reasons why you may have been referred to the

FOLS team, including:

• You have been in contact with the criminal justice system or are at risk of becoming involved with the criminal justice system.
• There is a high risk of you offending and/or you may be using potentially offending behaviours of concern.
• You are currently serving a custodial sentence or have been detained under the Mental Health Act and require support to transition from a Secure Setting to a Community Setting.
• You have come to the end of a custodial sentence or if you have been discharged from a Section in a secure hospital unit and require support to move back into the community and ongoing support after the move.

What happens following a referral?

Following a completed referral, we will then discuss the details of your referral within our wider MDT (Multi Disciplinary Team). Following this, if we are the right service for you, we will arrange to meet with you and those involved in your support to discuss the help we can provide and what that will look like in the future.

We may need to meet with you more than once to complete an initial assessment. We will share our recommendations and advice with you and whoever else is involved in your care.