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Your Guide To CAMHS Services

If your child has been struggling with mental, emotional, or behavioural issues, you may be wondering about Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMHS) Services. These are services that run in areas around the UK to support children and young people with their mental health.

If you need to access CAMHS services, the process can feel daunting and confusing. Here we explain what CAMHS do, how to get a referral, what to expect and what you can do if the waiting list for NHS CAMHS is too long.

What is CAMHS?

Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) are a set of services available UK-wide to help children and young people with their mental health. They are mostly funded or delivered by the NHS (although sometimes families choose to seek private CAMHS services). At The London Psychiatry Centre, our private CAMHS team can offer help without the wait.

What can CAMHS help with?

CAMHS services encompass a broad spectrum of mental health support for young people, including help to:

• Cope with difficult feelings such as anxiety and low mood
• Deal with unhelpful behaviours, for example self-harm, aggression, or eating disorders
• Deal with behavioural issues and developmental disorders
• Manage the impact of significant life challenges and adverse experiences such as bullying or bereavement
• Treat mental health disturbances, for example mood disorders or hallucinations
• CAMHS team also provide specialist neuro-developmental assessments (ASD, ADHD) and cognitive assessment

What Does CAMHS Do?

CAMHS services provide a range of support

• Assessment and diagnosis
• Talking therapies like individual psychotherapy, family therapy, and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
• Self-help resources such as apps and online guides
• Medications (if appropriate) to treat some mental health disorders
• Support if a young person needs to go to hospital
• Signposting and referrals to other organisations that can help with learning, housing and social care. These may be other NHS services or charities.

All kinds of professional’s work in CAMHS services teams including:

• Child and adolescent psychiatrists (medical doctors with a specialty in mental health)
• Clinical psychologists
• Clinical nurse specialist
• CBT therapist

The professionals you see will depend on the mental health needs of your child and the support you are looking for.

What Kind Of Support Will I Get From The London Psychiatry Centre CAMHS Team?

It depends on your child’s mental health needs. Some families find that good self-help advice, or a short course of talking therapy is enough to help their child deal with their mental health and emotions in daily life. Other young people have complex issues and need more specialist or longer-term help.

To begin with, CAMHS services will talk to your child and you at an assessment to help determine the kind of support that is needed and wanted.

How Do We Access CAMHS?

To get help from our CAMHS services, you can simply begin by calling us on 020 7580 4224 for a chat with your friendly administration team. If you explain the concerns you have, our team can arrange for you to speak with our CAMHS team. In the meantime, you should try to make a note of:

• What your child’s emotional, mental health, or behavioural issues are
• How long the problems have been going on for
• Your child’s educational functioning, social life, and family situation
• Any other help your child is receiving
• Any strategies you have already tried to resolve the problems.

When Should A Child Be Referred To CAMHS?

NHS CAMHS services are generally reserved for moderate to severe mental health difficulties in children and young people.

Common NHS CAMHS referral criteria include the following:

• Mental, emotional and/or behavioural issues that are having a significant impact on the child’s daily life
• The symptoms have been present for a number of months
• The problems have not improved in response to prevention and early intervention help, for example evidence-based parenting strategies, primary mental health worker support, behaviour support and counselling.

Unfortunately, a recent report on NHS CAMHS services wait times revealed that in England:

• Close to one million children and young people had active referrals for NHS CAMHS services in 2022-23
• 39% saw their referrals closed before getting support from NHS CAMHS services
• 270,000 children referred to NHS CAMHS services were still waiting
• Close to 40,000 children are waiting over two years to access NHS CAMHS services support

It is no surprise that parents who are able to afford it often choose to access private CAMHS services. Many parents prefer to address their concerns before they are severe, and prefer to get help without joining a long wait list. This is where our private CAMHS services can help.

Do CAMHS Diagnose Autism And/Or ADHD?

Yes, CAMHS services can diagnose Autism and ADHD.

Usually a CAMHS diagnosis for autism or ADHD involves considering information from a range of sources, including completing specialised questionnaires, parent interview, professional liaison with school, and face-to-face appointments in-clinic with the young person and parents conducted by CAMHS clinical specialists.

What happens at a CAMHS assessment?

A CAMHS assessment is a meeting to get a better picture of the problems a child is facing and determine whether CAMHS is able to help. A parent/guardian will generally be asked to accompany the child to their CAMHS assessment, which usually lasts for about an hour.

They will speak to the child and parent together. Then they may speak to the child on their own and sometimes will also speak to the parent on their own.

Dr Spondita Goswami, Child and Adolescent Clinical Psychologist at The London Psychiatry Centre says: “Our CAMHS team will ask about any difficulties presenting following significant events. They will try to get a picture of the problems the child is facing and how long they have been going on for. Questions will vary according to the concerns the parent(s) have and that the child is presenting with. Try to give as much information as possible – the more CAMHS services know, the more they can help.”

Towards the end of the assessment, there may be a discussion of strategies to help your child.

Everything you and your child say will be kept confidential unless they are concerned for your child’s safety or the safety of another person.

Following the assessment, the team, together with you, will determine whether or not CAMHS services would be helpful and the best way forward.

Book a private CAMHS psychiatrist London

Are you looking for a private CAMHS psychiatrist in London? Want help for your child without the wait?

Here at The London Psychiatry Centre, our expert CAMHS services team provides multidisciplinary assessment and treatment for a broad spectrum of children’s mental health issues and neurodevelopmental disorders.

We work collaboratively with families and can, when appropriate, loop in other professionals such as teachers, GPs, and paediatricians. As one of the UK’s leading mental health centres, we provide evidence-based treatment and support to help your child be at their best.

To find out how we can help, contact us today:
T: 020 7580 4224
E: info@psychiatrycentre.co.uk