Mind the Gap

"I was mixed up between school and college. I wasn’t in one head – I was in both."

These were the words of one young person who took part in Mind the Gap, an action research project that aimed to improve the emotional and mental health support for young people with learning disabilities as they move into adulthood.

It was carried out by the Norah Fry Research Centre, Bristol, in partnership with those involved in service provision for people with learning disabilities in Somerset, between September 2002 and August 2004.

The project explored the views of young people and their families about the kind of emotional and mental health support they wanted, and involved them in establishing their own forms of support through action research. Based on the good practice that already exists in transition support within Somerset, the outcomes included a peer support course facilitated by young people themselves, and a course in emotional support facilitated by parents.