What the Keyworker Service Is

The South Yorkshire Keyworker Service provides coordination and navigation support for:

  • People with a learning disability
  • Autistic people
  • Their parents, carers, families, and supporters

The service helps individuals and those around them access appropriate services, understand processes, and ensure care and support is joined up and responsive.

 

We are a coordination and navigation service.
We are not:

  • A mental health support service
  • A family support service
  • An advocacy service
  • A replacement for statutory services
  • A step‑down service following discharge from statutory teams
  •  

We cannot accept referrals that aim to transfer statutory responsibilities to the Keyworker Service.

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What the Keyworker Service Offers

Coordination & Navigation

  • Supporting individuals to access the right services at the right time
  • Helping communication between professionals, services, and families
  • Ensuring systems respond appropriately to a person’s needs

Personalised Care Planning

  • Ensuring care, support and treatment plans are personalised
  • Making sure the individual and those important to them are involved and informed
  • Supporting goal‑setting to reduce uncertainty and promote safety, stability, and wellbeing

Preventing Avoidable Hospital Admissions

  • Supporting professionals to work together
  • Helping prevent unnecessary mental health inpatient admissions
  • Supporting individuals to remain within their local area wherever possible

How Support Is Delivered

Support can be provided:

  • One‑to‑one with the individual
  • With multi‑disciplinary teams
  • Alongside lead professionals and community teams
  • With families, carers, and supporters
  • With providers, dynamic support registers, and commissioners

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Who Is Eligible for the Service

Referrals can be made for:

  • People with a learning disability who feel Keyworker support would be helpful
  • Autistic people who feel Keyworker support would be helpful
  • Professionals who believe Keyworker involvement would benefit an individual
  • Situations where there is increased risk of:
    • Mental health inpatient admission
    • Breakdown of a living arrangement or placement

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Referral Limitations

The Keyworker Service cannot accept referrals when:

  • The request is for mental health support
  • The request is for family support
  • The intention is for the service to provide advocacy
  • The referral is part of a step‑down plan from a statutory team
  • The referral would replace responsibilities of existing statutory service