Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS)

What Does Our Service Do?

The Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) is a specialist service offering mental health assessment and intervention to children and young people (up to the age of 18 years) who need more help with their mental health.

About our services

CAMHS is made up of a number of specialist outpatient teams, who work with children, young people and their families in the community. The teams are multi-disciplinary, made up of staff from a variety of different professional backgrounds, who are specialists in mental health, including nurses, psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, social workers and psychotherapists. The service also includes peer mentors and those with lived experience of mental health services. Each team is supported by a dedicated admin team.

Referral criteria

How to Refer

Referral into Community CAMHS is via Triage and Navigation provided by DHU Health. Triage and Navigation is the single point of access for all CCG commissioned behavioural, mental health and emotional wellbeing services within Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. A single point of access aims to ensure that children and young people (CYP) who need to access services for behavioural, emotional or mental health needs, or for assessment (including eating disorders, ASD or ADHD assessment) receive support from the most appropriate service to meet their needs.

All referrals will be reviewed systematically and regularly in line with the CYP Triage and Navigation’s Referral & Signpost and Risk Policies, according to need and as part of the team’s case management processes. Routine referrals are processed within 2 working days, referrals identified as Urgent are processed within 2 hours.

Urgent and Emergency Care in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland :: DHU Healthcare

Referrals to community CAMHS via Triage and Navigation will be accepted from the following professionals*:

  • General Practitioners (GP)
  • Social Workers (SW)
  • Educational Psychologist (EP)
  • FYPC- Learning Disabilities clinician working with a child
  • Early Intervention

* Please see individual sections for exceptions to this within specialist teams.

Referrals should be made via the Prism referral form on SystmOne to DHU Healthcare Triage and Navigation. Non SystmOne users can access the CYP Mental Health Wellbeing Triage and Navigation referral from dhul.dhu-cypservices@nhs.net.

Self-referral to Triage and Navigation is now also available for emotional wellbeing and mental health support via their online portal.  Please note that for some mental health conditions, self-referral is not available. Self-referral is not available for neurodevelopmental assessments. For more information, please visit the self-referral portal.

 

Please be mindful CAMHS can only accept Neurodevelopmental Assessment referrals for secondary school aged children.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Autistic Spectrum Disorder referrals:

All referrals for assessment of ADHD and / or ASD will require a GP referral, however to help us understand your child / young person’s needs, we require some detailed information about their difficulties at home and at school. This information will help us both to process the referral into the service and aid the assessment process.

The completed school and parent forms (please see forms below) will need to be taken to your GP appointment where you can discuss if a referral for further assessment of ADHD and / or ASD is indicated. On receipt of the referral form and fully completed parent and school forms, CAMHS will screen these to assess whether further assessment for either disorder is indicated.

Referral Forms:

We believe the best approach for referral into the service is for schools and parents to work together to complete the referral pack. Professionals working with families, children and young people in situations where this is not possible are encouraged to contact us for advice before referring (for example; if the child is not currently in school).

Criteria exclusion

Criteria Exclusion Difficulties associated with an ordinary reaction to recent life events, e.g. separation, divorce, bereavement, post abuse unless PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), complex bereavement or associated with a mental health problem. CAMHS will not mediate residence and contact arrangements The impact of a child / young person’s difficulties presentations do not pose significant difficulty/distress in terms of everyday home life, friendships, classroom learning and leisure activities Anxiety presentation in relation to school only (Please contact school pastoral support/ Mental Health Support Teams in schools) Any child protection / safeguarding issues need to be immediately raised by the referrer with the Local Authority (LA) ensuring the safeguarding policy & procedures are adhered to by the referrer. The referrer must raise any such concerns directly with the LA, independently of any referral to CAMHS. *Exceptions to Inclusion/ and exclusion criteria for specific specialist teams are included within each individual service section. All referrals into Specialist CAMHS will be considered where there is evidence of complexity, co-morbidity, pervasive or chronicity or that a highly trained specialist professional is required to enable change to a specific mental health presentation.

How to access this service

How can you access our services?

What conditions do you cover

  • Mood Disorders
  • Anxiety Disorders
  • Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
  • Psychosis
  • Eating Disorders
  • Self-Harm associated with any of the above presentations.
  • Diagnostic assessment and management of Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and associated comorbidities in children and young people aged 11 years and above. Children who are open to paediatricians where assessment has started should be referred there to prevent duplication of work.
  • School Refusal or severe behaviour problems – ONLY where there are significant co-morbid mental health concerns listed above.

Contact info

See locations tab for contact details for each service.

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