The Community Forensic Services incorporates the following teams:
- Specialist Community Forensic Team (SCFT)
- Forensic Link Workers (FLW)
- IN-CS Liaison and Diversion Service (LADS) (previously Advice and Support in Custody and Court (ASCC))
- Offender Personality Disorder Service (OPD) and Intensive Integrated Risk Management Service (IIRMS)
Specialist Community Forensic Team (SCFT)
The SCFT is a countywide community-based service which provides tiered levels of specialist forensic advice, support and treatment for a forensic mental health patients in Somerset. The team are experienced mental health professionals with the knowledge and expertise to advise and manage the care of forensic patients.
Patients may present with an increased risk towards others and may need specialist advise to manage their presentations within a community setting, receive intervention to avoid admission to a secure hospital and will need the team to remain involved in their care if admitted to a secure hospital. When clinically safe to do so, discharge can be facilitated into the community with robust management arrangements in place to ensure the patients mental health is maintained and the risk to the public is managed safely.
Forensic Link Workers (FLWs)
Forensic Link Workers (FLW’s) are experienced, registered mental health professionals with forensic expertise who provide advice and support to mental health services across Somerset – in both the community and inpatient hospital settings.
They are based in each of the four geographic localities in Somerset and are a point of contact and expertise to support practitioners working with patients (outside of secure care pathways) who present with a risk of harm to others or patients who present as a risk of harm to others associated with a mental illness/ disorder.
Contact details for SCFT and FLW
Broadway Health Park
Barclay Street
Bridgwater
TA6 5LX
Telephone number: 01278 454203
IN-CS Liaison and Diversion Service (LADS) (previously ASCC)
Somerset Partnership’s Advice and Support in Custody and Court (ASCC) team provides a service to individuals appearing at Somerset’s criminal courts (Taunton, Yeovil, North Somerset Magistrates’ Courts and Taunton Crown Court), to those who have been arrested at Bridgwater Police Custody and those who attend for interview but are not under arrest (voluntary attenders).
The team is part of NHS England’s national Liaison and Diversion programme (and in partnership with Avon and Wiltshire Partnership, provides the Advice and Support in Custody and Courts service to the wider Avon and Somerset police area). The team’s primary role is to complete mental health and other vulnerability assessments in criminal justice settings and identify unmet needs with a view to referring on to a range of relevant health and social care services. The team routinely share relevant information with criminal justice agencies (where consent has been obtained) to ensure that wherever individuals are in the criminal justice system, their mental health needs and information about other vulnerabilities are known, enabling the police and courts to make informed decisions about charging and sentencing.
Contact details
Telephone number: 01278 411860
Offender Personality Disorder Service (OPD) and Intensive Integrated Risk Management Service (IIRMS)
This team addresses the needs of both male and female offenders who have been screened into the OPD pathway by probation services. Forensic psychologists support specialist OPD probation officers by delivering case consultations, supervision and formulations.
The IIRMS team provide treatment to those leaving prison to support successful transitions to community living, using a wide range of psychosocial interventions to encourage engagement for ‘difficult to reach’ cohort. The team consists of forensic psychology, occupational therapy and engagement workers.
Contact details
Telephone number: 01278 454203