A REVAMPED service aimed at reaching out to more people with learning disabilities has been launched across South Warwickshire, including Studley and Alcester.
The initiative, to be run by Turning Point, has a brief to offer greater help to allow people to lead as normal a life as possible.
It replaces the more centre-orientated service run by Bromford.
They had run a five-day-a-week centre from The Hub in Studley, where the number of attendees had dwindled into single figures.
However, experts estimate there could be up to 8,000 people in South Warwickshire suffering some form of mental disability and Turning Point will be aiming to reach out to them too.
At Tuesday night’s Studley Parish Council meeting, Davinder Jhuty and Sharon Paterson from Turning Point re-assured councillors that although the number of sessions at The Hub would be cut from five to two, they would be using other community venues, with the focus on the activities offered rather than where they were held.
“As well as one-to-one sessions there will be drop-in sessions and we’ll also be looking at education, employment, physical and emotional wellbeing,” said Ms Paterson.
“The contract is very much around community facing rather people coming to a base like they would to a centre.”
Ms Jhuty added that the contract was very much in its early phases and the first three months would be spent reviewing and talking to users, as well as reaching out to new people before moving forward. It would also be linked to GP practices to help relieve pressure on local doctors.
Users would be offered a rolling programme of six sessions based on need.
The organisation, locally based in Leamington, also plans to reach out to sufferers in Alcester.
After raising initial doubts about the changes, Councillor Brian Dixon said: “We want Turning Point to provide an excellent service and I personally look forward to seeing something better.”
