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Children and mental health
Child and Mental Health Adolescent Services (CAMHS).jpg "Children playing")
Referrals are accepted from professionals in
health, education and social services. In the case of
referrals from the educational service, consultation should have
taken place before the referral is made, with the appropriate
professionals from that service e.g. educational psychologists,
education welfare officers, school nurses or the behaviour support
teams.
The Service operates as a multidisciplinary
team. Therefore, it is preferred that referrals are made to the
team and not to a named professional. On completion of the
initial screening / assessment, cases will be allocated, as
appropriate, in accordance with the agreed treatment plan.
Consultation
We provide consultation to a range of
professionals to support them in their work. For example:
We are happy to engage in telephone
consultation with professionals to discuss the appropriateness of
potential referrals.
Some referrals may be more effectively dealt
with by agencies other than
CAMHS
:
- if children are at risk of significant harm the London Child
Protection procedures must be followed
- education problems that have manifested exclusively within the
school setting and have not been though the in school review should
be followed up initially by the education services
- parental mental illness and emotional distress should be
referred to the adult mental health service
- situations where children or young people are affected by
parental acrimony or separation may initially require the
involvement of a mediation service
- tiers 1 and 2 plus voluntary counselling services may also be a
more appropriate route for some referrals
Referrals considered by CAMHS include requests for the
assessment and management of problems suggestive of:
- Suspected / actual psychosis (This may then lead to Liaison
with Redbridge Early Intervention Into Psychosis Team)
- Moderate/severe depression / suicidal ideation
- Deliberate self-harm
- Substance abuse
- Incapacitating physical disturbance due to psychological
causes
- Eating disorder
- Aggressive behaviour as the result of a psychiatric condition,
including Learning Difficulty (where skills are available)
- Incapacitating OCD
- Incapacitating Anxiety
- Incapacitating emotional disorders
- Neuro-developmental difficulties, e.g. ADHD; Autistic Spectrum
Disorders; Social & communication difficulties
- Attachment disorders / Parent-infant bonding difficulties in
under 3’s
- Trauma following abuse: Emotional / Physical / Sexual
- Severe behaviour problems / Conduct Disorder/Oppositional
Defiant Disorder
- School refusal with associated emotional trauma
- Traumatic life events with evidence of severely disturbed
behaviour
- Severe family dysfunction
The severity of a mental health problem is assessed on the
basis of the history, symptoms and the following factors:
- Complexity
- Persistence
- Risk to child of further development of mental health issues if
situation persists
- Child’s level of development
- Presence or absence of protective factors or risk factors
- Presence or absence of stressful social or cultural
factors
- Sudden unexplained onset of symptoms
- All referrals are screened for urgency as part of standard
procedure. Referrers and GP will be advised when the case has been
closed by CAMHS services
Who is the service for?
We provide services to infants, children and young people who
have mental health difficulties, behavioural and / or emotional
problems. The service is available to families with children and
young people aged from birth to their age 18 Birthday.
We also, provide counselling support and input to schools via
Here & Now and the Interventions in Schools Project.
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