Increasing access to psychological interventions for people with a learning disability in Wales

Despite the high prevalence of adverse life events and trauma, mental health difficulties are often not recognised in people with learning disabilities. This population continue to experience high levels of inequality in access to, and experience of, psychological interventions. Seven semi-structured interviews were conducted aiming to capture views around the vision of advancing equality in mental health care. Themes were: (1) raising awareness of the mental health needs of people with learning disabilities; (2) increasing access at primary care level; (3) development of a best practice learning disabilities framework; (4) increasing high quality research; and (5) creating inclusive communities. Easy to read summary ■ People with a learning disability are more likely to have adverse life events, trauma and as such mental health difficulties. ■ Semi-structured interviews were conducted with Heads of Learning Disability services across Wales, as well as with one expert-by-experience. ■ We were interested in what they thought the barriers to people with a learning disability accessing psychological interventions were, as well as the vision around how access can be increased. ■ Results highlighted a need for: (1) raising awareness of the mental health needs of people with learning disabilities; (2) increasing access at primary care level; (3) development of a Matrics Cymru learning disabilities framework; (4) increasing high quality research; and (5) ‘moving upstream’ to create inclusive communities. ■ A model of action was developed based on this.