What is K & R CATS?

In Kingston & Richmond, there are approximately 450 children and young people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Kingston & Richmond Consultation, Assessment, and Treatment Service (K & R CATS) was formulated in January 2022 and is led by Shannen Carey, Behaviour Analyst at PBSC, alongside Enno Kuettner, CAMHS Transformation Consultant. K & R CATS work as part of a multidisciplinary team to support children and young people with moderate LD and/or ASD across Kingston and Richmond, who are most at risk of family or placement breakdown. The work PBSC do within this service involves a combination of consultations, assessments, and interventions. This also includes signposting children and young people to the most appropriate service in line with their need, such as training caregivers, mediators, school, and respite services.

The range of interventions offered enable children, young people, and their support networks to better understand the reasons and triggers for crisis behaviours and upskill in responding in a way that promotes long-lasting positive behavioural change, with an aim to increase resilience, quality of life, and reduce the demand for additional specialist provision.

The K & R CATS service aims to provide between 10-15 PBS assessments over the course of fifteen months, with PBS interventions to follow around three quarters of these. To date, the K & R CATS team have joined a total of 37 initial PBS/Clinical Psychology consultations, and 35 follow-up consultations with the child or young person’s family and other professionals within their networks. The K & R CATS team have also attended and contributed to 32 additional meetings involving teams around the child or young person, including EHCP, Child in Need, and Child Protection reviews. So far, a total of 9 functional behaviour assessments have been completed by the K & R CATS team and 8 behavioural interventions are currently in process.