Burston House and St John’s House

At both Burston House and St John’s House, patients are detained under the Mental Health Act and have learning disabilities along with a range of challenging behaviours.

Burston House consists of three low secure wards:

• Kestrel Ward
• Rectory Ward
• Eagle Ward

These provide 31 beds and are male only.

St John’s House consists of two medium secure wards and two low secure wards:

• Bure Ward – 11-bedded, low secure, female only
• Waveney Ward – 6-bedded, low secure, female only
• Walsham Ward – 16-bedded, medium secure, male only
• Redgrave Ward – 16-bedded, medium secure, female only

Patient activities at Burston House and St John’s House

Patients are encouraged to develop their skills in a community setting, and individual programmes vary depending on patients’ needs as they progress through medium secure to low secure and community rehabilitation services. Patients are also supported to participate in the on-site or community-based Real Work Opportunities (RWOs) Programme, including employment and voluntary placements.

Within the occupational therapy department, we offer bespoke and person-centred sessions within a 12-week timetable. These activity sessions run as small groups or as individual sessions. The sessions are reviewed every 12 weeks and changes are made depending on the patients’ interests.  Our sessions are run by teachers, occupational therapists, occupational therapy assistants and technical instructors, with full input from the patients throughout.

Some of the activities and sessions that we offer include:

• Education
• Gym
• Arts and crafts
• Community skills
• Woodwork
• Pets as therapy (PAT) dog therapy
• Horse grooming
• Project groups
• Photography
• Cooking
• Daily living skills

Our occupational therapy team also run regular social events such as themed parties, BBQs, pantomimes, animal experience days, and cultural themed activities alongside the running timetable programme.

Lombard House

Lombard House is a nine-bedded community locked rehabilitation hospital for males with a history of offending behavior, who have a learning disability and other conditions including autistic spectrum disorders (ASDs), personality disorders and mental illnesses.

The main house is able to accommodate seven patients and the Lombard House flats offer an extended care pathway for two patients.

Richmond House

Richmond House is an eight-bedded community locked rehabilitation hospital for females with a history of offending/challenging behavior, who have learning disabilities and other conditions including ASDs, personality disorders and mental illnesses.

This specialist unit is an important part of the step-down care pathway within our learning disabilities services and just one step away from community placements in our specialist residential houses.

LDS Recovery College

As part of the occupational therapy service, we also offer a Recovery College. This provides a variety of courses to patients, all of which are designed, planned and co-facilitated by our patients, alongside staff.

The Recovery College aims to help you to recover your existing skills and regain your confidence in many areas. The courses that we run have been designed to enable you to work towards recovery and are delivered in an educational, supportive and inclusive setting. In addition, our Recovery College courses are a good place to meet other patients and socialise.

Some of our recent Recovery College courses include:

• Basic maths skills
• Culture cooking
• Mission fit
• Bird watching
• Cooking from scratch

The skills that you can learn as part of our Recovery College include:

• How to work as a team
• How to share ideas
• Problem solving
• Building upon your confidence and self-esteem
• Communication
• Independence
• Daily living skills
• Literacy
• Numeracy

You can explore this section for more information on our Recovery College.