It’s not all about the Mental Elf you know. There are lots of other elves who spend every waking hour scurrying around to find reliable evidence to help you.

There are now seven magnificent elf websites and one more due to launch very soon.  Here’s a quick run down of my brothers and sisters in the woodland:

The Learning Disabilities Elf

Written by John Northfield who has worked as a Service and Project Manager in learning disabilities for over 20 years, this site brings together the latest evidence from journals, websites and databases. It’s aimed at health and social care professionals with an interest in learning disabilities and covers a broad range fo topics including challenging behaviour, health, mental health, Down syndrome, autism, quality of life and family carers.

The Learning Disabilities Elf website started life in March 2011 as the WELD (Working with Evidence about Learning Disabilities) Blog and now has over 400 published posts.

You can follow the Learning Disabilities Elf on Twitter at @WELDBlog or on Facebook.

The Lifestyle Elf

Written by Sarah Chapman and Sarah Holloway, this site is just what you need to keep up-to-date with all of the important and reliable information related to healthy lifestyle.

They cover exercise and physical activity, diet and nutrition, alcohol, smoking and obesity.  There’s loads of stuff on the Lifestyle Elf relevant to mental health and wellbeing, so it’s well worth checking out.

The Lifestyle Elf launched in March 2012 and now has over 150 posts.  A new blog is published every Monday, Wednesday and Friday and you can follow them on Twitter at @LifestyleElf or on Facebook.

The Education Elf

Written by Leah Tomlin (Assistant Head of Henleaze Junior School in Bristol), the Education Elf is a bit of a departure from the norm. It’s aimed at teachers, school leaders, governors, educational policy makers, researchers, parents or students. Essentially anyone with an interest in children and their development from the age of 0 to 19 years.

The blog only started in October 2012, so there’s not much content on it just yet, but it’s bound to be of interest to many health and social care professionals, particularly those who work with children and young people.

You can follow the Education Elf on Twitter at @EducationElf and on Facebook.

The Dental Elf

Written by Derek Richards (Director of the Centre for Evidence-Based Dentistry and Editor of the Evidence-Based Dentistry journal), the Dental Elf highlights evidence-based publications relevant to dental practice in the UK and around the world.

He’s been publishing 5 weekly blogs since June 2011, so there are now over 400 evidence summaries on the website covering caries, dental implants, endodontics, oral and maxillofacial surgery, orthodontics, periodontal disease and restorative dentistry.

You can follow the Dental Elf on Twitter at @TheDentalElf and on Facebook.

The Diabetes Elf

Written by Douglas Badenoch from Minervation, the Diabetes Elf highlights new and updated guidance, systematic reviews and key clinical trials that are relevant to diabetes care.

There are over 150 posts on the blog covering type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, type 2 on insulin, type 2 on oral agents, gestational diabetes, complications, diet and exercise.

You can follow the Diabetes Elf on Twitter at @Diabetes_Elf and on Facebook.

The Musculoskeletal Elf

Written by Tracey Howe (Professor of Rehabilitation Sciences at Glasgow Caledonian University) and colleagues, the MSK Elf brings you interesting and reliable research and guidance relevant for musculoskeletal conditions.

The site launched in August last year and recent past the 50 blogs mark. Topics covered include exercise, knee, low back pain, osteoarthritis, pain, physiotherapy, psychosocial treatment, rheumatoid arthritis, and the 2012 Olympics.

You can follow the Musculoskeletal Elf on Twitter at @MSK_Elf and on Facebook.

The Commissioning Elf – coming soon…

Written by Caroline De Brun, the soon to be launched Commissioning Elf website will be aimed at health and social care professionals working in commissioning and management roles.

The blog will cover commissioning, improvement, innovation and leadership.

You will be able to follow the cute little curly-haired fella with his permanently attached tablet computer (you know the sort) on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.