Information for Young People

There may be a short wait between the request for support being made and your first Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) appointment and how long this wait will be varies, but our aim is always to see you as quickly as possible. You can check when your appointment is likely to be by calling your local CAMHS service.

So you have a date for an appointment with Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) and you may be a bit worried about coming to your first session, it’s normal to feel a little anxious about meeting new people and being unsure of what to expect.

We will make you feel as comfortable as possible when you visit our service, taking things at a pace that feels right for you in a non-judgemental environment.

We’ll usually invite you to one of our main clinic bases for your appointment, but sometimes we might meet with you somewhere else such as at your school or your home. We’ll chat through with you your options and agree together where might be best to meet. You can see the what the main clinic bases look like on our Home Page, were there are short Videos you can watch

At your first appointment, you will usually meet a member of the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) team, possibly two, who will do an assessment. This means that they will ask you a range of questions that will better help them to understand your current situation and the issues you are experiencing so that they can find the best ways to help you. If you are not confident with speaking English, we can arrange for an interpreter to be there too, just let us know in advance if you would like one.

At your assessment, we will usually see you with your parents/carers or by yourself. If you are under 16, it’s helpful for your family or carers to be involved in your Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) journey. There will always be an opportunity for you to speak to your CAMHS worker on your own at your appointment. If you are aged over 16, you can talk to your CAMHS worker about who you would like to come to appointments with you. It can be helpful to have family members/carers involved so that they can share their thoughts about what might be going on, as well as being able to support you with any changes you might want to make.

Your first appointment with the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) team is a chance for you to tell them about what’s been happening for you. Your CAMHS worker will ask you questions to build up a picture of how you have been feeling and what has been going on for you. Some of their questions might include:

What difficulties are you currently experiencing?

How long has the problem been around?

Who’s in your family and how do you all get on?

What is lifelike at school and with your friends?

How has your mood been recently? Have you been feeling low or stressed?

Are you, or is anyone around you, worried about your safety?

What were you like when you were growing up?

What has your life been like so far?

What things you are good at and enjoy?

What would you like to change or achieve by coming to CAMHS?

What type of help would you prefer?

You might find it useful to write down how you have been feeling and what you have been experiencing before you come to your appointment so it’s easier to answer the questions. You don’t have to answer all the questions that your CAMHS worker will ask you, and there will be plenty of time and opportunity for you to ask them any questions you might have too.

Young Minds have developed a list of questions you might find useful to ask your CAMHS worker:

https://youngminds.org.uk/find-help/your-guide-to-support/questions-you-should-ask/

At the end of your appointment, you and your Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service worker will agree a plan about what happens next and arrange another appointment if you need to come back and see us again. If we think someone else in the team or another service might be better able to help you, we will talk this through with you, and make sure you get to the right place for this help. Sometimes we will ask you if we can contact some other workers who know you, to get some more information, for example from your Carer, School / College and or your Health Care Workers, so we can better understand your difficulties and get the right assessments and or help for you.

If you become worried about your safety or the safety of others around you, or you need to be seen in an emergency before your first appointment, you should go directly to your GP or local hospital Emergency Department.  Other Services that can help are

Text “Shout” To  85258 https://giveusashout.org/

GMMH 24/7 Help Line Tel: 0800 953 0285 https://www.gmmh.nhs.uk/

NHS Direct Tel: NHS 111 www.nhs24.com/contactus/

Childline Tel:  0800 1111  www.childline.org.uk/

Papyrus Hope Line UK Tel  0800 068 41 41 https://www.papyrus-uk.org/

https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/youth-mental-health/

Consent and Confidentiality

CAMHS provide assessment and treatment services for children and young people who are experiencing emotional or mental health difficulties.

Consent

If you get invited to come and see someone at CAMHS you get to decide if you come or not, however we really do encourage you to give it a try and at least talk to someone about what is going on for you and help you to get a better understanding about your difficulties.

From this we can then deicide together what and who might be able to offer you the best help to meet your needs.

Privacy / Confidentially

What we talk about in CAMHS is confidential between you, your family and the CAMH teams.

With your consent we will regularly update the other people who are supporting you (EG Teachers, Support Workers, Family and your Doctor on your progress. (Usually by letter, sometimes by a phone call)

For older young people, at your request we can keep all your information private / confidential to you, as long as you or someone else you tell us about is not in danger or at risk of harm.

As with all services working with children, if something is said that indicates that someone might be at risk of being harmed or of harming others, we are required to talk to other people and make a plan to keep you and them safe.

If you would like more information this is a link to an informative video