There is an over-reliance on mainstream services that are not well-equipped to meet the mental health needs of people with intellectual disability, let alone those with complex needs. Mental health professionals often lack knowledge, skills and confidence in providing services to people with intellectual disability and complex needs.

Diagnostic overshadowing, where emotional or behavioural disturbances are attributed to the person’s disability, may lead to health and mental health conditions going undetected and untreated or inadequately managed. Professionals may assume that these disturbances are part of the person’s intellectual disability, rather than a symptom of an undetected health problem. With multiple physical and/or mental health conditions, it can be difficult to determine what a change in behaviour may be due to, and there is often an under-identification of the person’s needs.

People with intellectual disability and complex needs may experience difficulty navigating the NDIS, which can lead to key support needs or therapies being overlooked or unaddressed, resulting in further exacerbation of their condition. It is difficult for the person’s complex needs to be recognised, managed and supported under the current NDIS scheme. The NDIS planning system does not accommodate severe impairments and when there are multiple ‘layered’ complex needs. [3] This means that the person may be underfunded and undersupported, and there can be extended delays to then readdress the funding needs.

People with intellectual disability and complex needs often have many people who support them in different ways, meaning it can be difficult to co-ordinate and prioritise interventions. There may also be high turnover of support staff, or multiple support staff who have little communication with each other, meaning that health and mental health problems can be overlooked or missed. Funding limitations may further preclude the time that professionals and case co-ordinators have to use towards collaborative activities.

There is a lack of evidence-based tools and practices that assist professionals and services to work together effectively to support the person. Using evidence-based practices can help in achieving the best possible mental health outcomes but evidence-based tools and practices are limited in the area and mainstream professionals may not necessarily be aware of the evidence base.

All professionals can make sure that important information (e.g. referral pathways, mental health promotion materials, care plans) is available in formats accessible to each individual so that they and their support networks can understand this information. 3DN has a toolkit on how to make information accessible. Also see the Communication section.

If the person with intellectual disability has not had a comprehensive health assessment for a while, it is important to organise this process so that any unmet needs can be detected. The Comprehensive Health Assessment Program (CHAP) is a useful tool for doctors that is designed to prompt a comprehensive health assessment for people with intellectual disability.

Mental health professionals can also link in with the person’s GP and obtain other information during mental health assessment.

Mental health professionals can provide psychoeducation to people with intellectual disability and their support networks and disability workers. Disability workers typically do not have qualifications in health and mental health and may not be adequately trained to provide mental health support to those with multiple and complex needs. Providing psychoeducation can encourage disability workers to take an ongoing active role in supporting the person’s treatment and monitoring of symptoms.

Mental health professionals responsible for prescribing should carefully consider the use of psychotropic medication in people with intellectual disability and complex needs. People with intellectual disability often also use multiple medications and it is important to consider the effects of polypharmacy. For detailed information on the use of psychotropic medication and responsible prescribing, see the Treatment section. Conversely people with intellectual disability should not be denied the opportunity to benefit from an appropriately prescribed medication simply because there are challenges in assessment.

Disability professionals providing services to people with intellectual disability and complex needs should take note of changes to the person’s behaviours and daily support needs, as they may indicate symptoms of an unrecognised health or mental health condition. It is important to share this information with others who provide support so that they can also look for changes. Having consistency in staff so that disability workers provide support to the same individuals is also important, as it can improve their ability to notice any behavioural changes. Additionally, there should be consistency in how behavioural interventions are delivered by support staff.

Sharing information between professionals is an important part of meeting the person’s support needs. With the consent of the person with intellectual disability, health and mental health professionals can ask carers and support networks to collate the person’s health and mental health information into a folder so that this information can be given to all those who provide support to the person, including specialists. Some examples of folders include the A2D Together Folder and the Council for Intellectual Disability’s My Health Matters folder. We also have a mental health passport that can be used to provide information about the person’s mental health and contacts.

There are various ways that professionals can work with each other. Some examples include establishing communication with relevant stakeholders, sharing information and working together through regular joint case conferencing and review.

It is important to encourage collaboration and innovation when the solution is not obvious, such as by jointly sharing possible ways forward, prioritising an option and jointly supporting its implementation and evaluation. Professionals can also seek support from specialised services to assist with periodic in-person or videoconferencing review.

Other ways of working together with others can be found here.

Health, mental health and disability professionals can improve knowledge, skills and confidence through training and professional development. It is important to take advantage of any training in your workplace and to seek out other training, such as online learning. 3DN’s Intellectual Disability Health Education provides self-paced online learning courses across a range of topics including mental health, behaviours of concern, healthy lifestyle interventions and cardiometabolic health.

Mental health professionals may also find the Intellectual Disability Core Competency Framework Manual and Toolkit to be helpful.

For people with intellectual disability who do not have a care co-ordinator, it often falls to support networks to manage the person’s needs. However, the success of this approach depends on the supporters’ health literacy, available time, socioeconomic status, and other factors. Co-ordinating supports for people with intellectual disability and complex needs can be stressful, so it is important for carers to practise self-care when possible. For more information about carers' self-care, see Looking after myself.

For health and mental health professionals working with people with intellectual disability and complex needs, it is important to link in with specialist services who can provide oversight or a second opinion. For example, for those working in the hospital system, Clinical Nurse Consultants and other experienced or senior colleagues may be able to assist.

When appropriate, it is also important to refer to specialist services, especially services that specialise in multiple and complex medical needs. These services may be difficult to find or access, so it is important to obtain tertiary service advice, where possible, and network in the community to find such services. Some specialist services that may be able to help include the Specialist Intellectual Disability Health Teams (e.g. Northern Sydney Intellectual Disability Health Team), the NSW Developmental Disability Health Unit and the South Eastern Sydney LHD Developmental Disability Assessment Team (DDAT). See further services on this list of Specialist Intellectual Disability Health Teams.

People with intellectual disability who have high support or complex needs may also be able to receive NDIS funding for a specialist support co-ordinator.

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