British Association for Counseling and Psychotherapy
CAMHS services generally support young people experiencing: sadness, low mood or depression. feelings of worry or anxiety. low confidence. problems with eating or your relationship with food. anger. problems sleeping. hearing voices or seeing things. thoughts about wanting to hurt yourself.
The best way to start the process of being referred to CAMHS is to go and see your child’s GP to discuss your concerns. We advise this because the GP will be able to work out if CAMHS is the right service for you. Some referrals to CAMHS are also made by other professionals, such as health visitors.
We are trained therapists who work with children to help them deal with their emotional and mental health problems. Our aim is to help them to understand why they feel the way you do , and what lies behind their responses to other people and to things that happen to them.
CAMHS stands for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services and is a free service that helps children and young people, up to age 18 years of age with moderate to severe mental health difficulties.
Common warning signs troubled youth may exhibit and signs to look out for include: Falling grades; truancy. Extreme mood swings; volatile temper. Persistent sadness, hopelessness, loss of interest. Suicidal thoughts or actions. Self-harm such as cutting of the skin. Habitual tobacco, drug, and/or alcohol use.
What ages do CAMHS treat? Some CAMHS work with children and young people up to the age of 18, but other services stop when a young people reaches 16, or will only work with a person aged 16-18 if they are in full-time education.
The Assessment Process The first assessment meeting is usually 60-90 minutes long which is often enough to decide what should happen next but if needed, there can be up to 3 meetings.
We might ask you about home life, school, friends, and the kind of things you like doing, and any challenges or problems . It is often important for parents and carers to be included in this discussion, but there will also be time for you to talk alone with your CAMHS clinician, if you’d like to.
If you’re under 16 years old, your parent(s) or carer(s) will usually be invited to join for part of this meeting. This appointment will generally take place at a CAMHS clinic. But, in some circumstances, they may meet with you at your school or home.
Specialist CAMHS will accept referrals of children and young people whose symptoms or distress and degree of social and/or functional impairment are severe. Usually, the duration of these difficulties should be not less than three months.
Courses can take up to 4 years to complete. To become a child psychotherapist, you will need to complete 4 years of training with the Association of Child Psychotherapists (ACP). You’ll also need experience of working with children or vulnerable adults.
Tier 3 . Tier 3 services are usually multidisciplniary teams or services working in a community mental health setting or a child and adolescent psychiatry outpatient service, providing a service for children and young people with more severe, complex and persistent disorders.
Remember you don’t have to tell your parents or carers anything about your sessions that you don’t want to, including what you talk about with your therapist. If they try and insist that you tell them, or on coming to your sessions, you can ask CAMHS to explain this to them.
They may offer to refer you to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services ( CAMHS ). You don’t need to do a test to find out if you have ADHD . Instead, you’ll talk to an expert such as a psychiatrist or specialist paediatrician (young person’s doctor) to find out the best way to help.
During the first appointment, the CAMHS nurse may need to take your child’s height, weight and blood pressure as a baseline measurement. If medication is started your child will visit the CAMHS ADHD clinic every 3-6 months to be reviewed.