The Looked After Children (LAC) team work with children and young people up to the age of 18 years, who are living in the care of Manchester Local Authority, both within and outside of Manchester.
How to access the service:
- Referral by self, children’s services staff (e.g. Social Worker), healthcare staff (e.g. GP, paediatrician, LAC Nurses), or parents/carers; as long as whoever hold parental responsibility agrees.
- Referrals can be made via the standard referral form and emailed or posted to the team at any of the 3 bases (see below).
- We require the name and contact details of the child’s social worker and their consent on the referral form.
- Referrals are screened on a daily basis and then discussed at the weekly team meeting. The referrer is informed of the outcome.
Anyone who is concerned about a young person’s mental health can also discuss their concerns directly with a worker on the team.
Service Information
Our service supports children who are living with foster carers, in children’s homes and in some cases, at home with their families. We offer our service to children and young people who are experiencing mental health and emotional difficulties.
We are a team of Clinical Psychologists, Advanced Practitioner Social Workers, Psychotherapists, Assistant Psychologists, Therapeutic Children’s Workers and Psychiatrists, who offer a range of mental health and wellbeing interventions for children and young people individually; for children and their carers together; and for carers individually or in our Fostering Attachments group.
We also offer training and consultation to the adults in the child/young person’s support network, for example foster and relative carers, birth families, residential children’s home staff, social workers, school staff and leaving care personal advisers, to help them think about how they can support the young person best.
Young people have said “What was really good was the fact that the people I have seen have helped me to become a better person physically, mentally and emotionally.”
Service Lead:
Kate Bonser, Consultant Clinical Psychologist
Opening Hours
The service currently operates from Monday to Friday during the hours of 9.00 am and 5.00 pm (excluding bank holidays).
Location: We are a city-wide team located across the 3 Manchester CAMHS bases (The Winnicott Centre, The Bridge and The Carol Kendrick Centre), but working across community settings too (e.g. school, home). We also work with children if they are moved out of Manchester. Our addresses and contact details are:
| North
The Bridge Tel: 0161 203 3264 |
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| Central
The Winnicott Centre Tel: 0161 701 6880 |
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| South
Carol Kendrick Centre Tel: 0161 902 3400 |
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