People come to CAMHS for all sorts of reasons.

It may be that someone else thinks you could benefit from support but you don't know why. Or it could be that you have so many things going on that you don't know where to start! Don't worry too much, sometimes our difficulties don't fit neatly into one box, we might have a little bit of one thing and a lot of another, it is important to remember that we are all unique, not just a label someone gives us. Some of the difficulties that CAMHS can support you with are:

Some of the services that they offer are:

If you feel that your child would benefit from one of these assessments or therapies you need to see your GP and ask for a referral to CAMHS. 

Options appointment / Initial assessment

Once your child has been referred to CAMHS, you will be invited to attend an Options/Initial assessment Appointment. This is our first chance to meet you and find out what it is you need help with, and what are the options that they can offer you. It is helpful if you are prepared with information about:

• when problems started

• how long they have been going on for

• if there is a pattern to the problems - do they occur more at certain times of the day?

• any difficulties in school or socially

• any physical health problems either now or in the past

• significant events that have happened in the family

• any other services that are involved

They will try to give you as much information as possible but if you have specific questions it can be helpful to make a list of questions to bring with you, your clinician will be happy to answer any queries or concerns you may have.

For more information, you can visit the CAMHS website.