The Neurodiversity Hub is a new service. It supports families and children who are neurodivergent or who have social communication differences, to work together with professionals to problem solve issues that are affecting them. It is based on needs and not a diagnosis.
The Neurodiversity Hub is a multi-agency screening, signposting, and support service.
Who is in our team?
- Speech and language therapist
- Paediatric neurodevelopment nurse
- Neurodiversity liaison nurse
- Specialist teacher
- Local mental health practitioner
- Team ead for the Rochdale Autism and ADHD service (RAASS)
Working hours: Monday to Friday from 8am until 4pm, excluding bank holidays.
We accept requests for help for children and young people under 19 years of age who live in Heywood, Middleton, and Rochdale. You do not need a formal diagnosis to access support from The Neurodiversity Hub.
Where appropriate, we will work with families and services to gain the evidence required to move forward with referrals for autism/ADHD assessments.
For school age children (aged 5 years and above) the Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) will continue to carry out the initial and diagnostic assessment. For early years children (under the age of 5 years) the Community Paediatric Service will carry out the initial assessment and the Autism Assessment Team will carry out the diagnostic assessment.
Families and professionals can still send information to CAMHS requesting an autism assessment. However, families may be signposted to the hub if they do not feel the request is appropriate at that time.
Screening
Once we have received a request for help we will screen the referral to support any unmet needs. We will contact families in a timely manner to discuss the support available.
Signposting
We will signpost families to appropriate teams and services available to them based on their needs. We will offer follow up support where needed to ensure that the child/young person and their family are receiving the right support by the right service at the right time.
Support
As we are a new and evolving service, we are currently developing a support offer to include a mixture of professional training, parental group workshops, group sessions for children and young people and 1:1 support. We will regularly release information regarding the workshops we have on offer such as:
- Emotional regulation and behaviour support
- Sleep (non-medicated issues)
- Toileting
- Early Communication Skills
- Parental Information and Support
- Anxiety
- Sibling and group support for children and young people
Families may be discharged from The Neurodiversity Hub after the above has taken place. However, families can contact the team to obtain advice and support as required.
Please complete the relevant form below and send the completed form to pcn-tr.camhsspoa@nhs.net
The Neurodiversity Hub Getting Help Form - Professional Version