Working in a Mental Health Inpatient setting

Evie Blackadder and Nicole Elliott explore autism diagnosis in inpatient mental health settings. The speech and language therapy (SLT) students are joined by Dr. Laura Sutherland, a Clinical Psychiatrist at the Young Person’s Unit in the North of Scotland. Together, they discuss how diagnosis impacts supports put in place for patients in this setting. Dr Sutherland shares her insights and expertise on how to best support neurodiverse individuals for clinicians working in these environments.

Content advisory statement. This podcast contains:

• Discussion of eating disorders and mental health and wellbeing concerns, specifically anxiety and depression. 
• It mentions physical restraint and psychotic illness  

If this content may disturb you or those around you please reconsider listening or accessing the podcast transcript. 

Access a transcript of the Working in an Mental Health Inpatient setting, available on a Sway. 

Episode Resources and signposting

• Kuriakose, S., Filton, B., Marr, M. et al. (2018). Does an Autism Spectrum Disorder Care Pathway Improve Care for Children and Adolescents with ASD in Inpatient Psychiatric Units?. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 48, 4082–4089.
• Kriegel, G., Paul, S., Leonard, K.H. et al. (2023). Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in Inpatient Adolescent Psychiatric Population. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
• Jones, K., Gangadharan, S., Brigham, P., Smith, E., & Shankar, R. (2021). Current practice and adaptations being made for people with autism admitted to in-patient psychiatric services across the UK. BJPsych Open, 7(3), e102. DOI: 10.1192/ bjo.2021.58
• The DISCO - National Autistic Society
• Navigating the Autism Diagnostic Interview - Revised (ADI-R) - Cortica
• ADOS overview, training and resource
• Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003.
• PEACE Pathway
• SWAN Scottish Women’s Autism Network.
• Talking Mats. (2013). Talking Mats | Improving communication, improving lives.
• National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. (2024). Find guidance
• Nation Autistic Society
• Scottish Autism

The information contained in this podcast is current at the point of publication, with no guarantee of future relevance.

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Guest speakers 

Dr Laura Sutherland

Dr Laura Sutherland is a consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist who works in the North of Scotland Young People’s Unit in Dundee. She advocates for the recognition of young people’s neurodivergent needs as part of their inpatient care as the proportion of young people admitted who are neurodivergent is high.

She has an interest in teaching and training of medical students and resident doctors. She works as a senior lecturer for the University of Dundee medical school and as Training Programme Director for core psychiatry training in the East of Scotland. Dr Sutherland is undertaking research into neurodiversity in medical students as part of a Masters in Medical Education.