Neurodiversity Week - Jamie Rastall's story
“I find that our roles vary depending on which prison you are based. At HMP Notts we get a lot of the referrals for people who are coming into prison from Court, sometimes for the first time but also people who serve short sentences, but repeatedly reoffend. They are often on remand which means they could leave the prison at any time via court and typically, most people will be in the prison for a period of 12 - 18 weeks. My referrals come from either the initial reception screen, where on their arrival to prison they are seen by a healthcare member of staff, or internally from other healthcare teams when they discover the person has neurodiverse needs, or from prison colleagues, prison officers or education staff. I work closely with the neurodiversity support manager who is employed by the prison to support Neurodiverse patients. Patients can self-refer to the neurodiverse team at any time”.
We have a high demand and high turnover of referrals and try to do what we can in the time we have. We aim to quickly see people (within 10 days) and to carry out an initial assessment to find out what we can do to help and if we are the best people to help. If we find they have been referred to the wrong pathway, we will signpost individuals to the team that can help. Sometimes mental health needs are a priority.
Due to the turnover, I will often see people again should they return. In these cases, I simply continue from where we left off instead of restarting the process or if the person is moving to another prison, I will hand over the work we have done to make sure their experience of the next prison is better and that work can be completed during the journey of their sentence. Many prisons across the country do not have a Neurodiversity offer but Nottingham provides healthcare into a number of prisons and this means that we can support continuity of care.
Some people serve longer sentences at HMP Nottingham and we can then see people through the diagnostic pathway, get them started on treatment or acknowledge that they have got needs that we can help them with. We offer psychoeducation and group work, and work hard to make sure that the treatment for ADHD and support is continued in the community.
