Child & Adolescent Mental Health Service
To deliver community based direct and indirect services including advice, assessments, diagnostic service and intervention for children and young people experiencing mental health and emotional problems, or learning disabilities and their carers/families
Every child and young person in contact with the Service receives the care they need to enable them to fulfill their potential in life.
We offer a range of therapeutic services for children, young people and their families who experience moderate to severe emotional/mental health problems, including direct and indirect clinical work through consultation and training. Direct therapeutic work offered includes cognitive behavioural therapy, group work, play therapy and family therapy. Multi-disciplinary teams may include child psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, social workers, primary mental health workers and administrators.
Services are provided by Tees, Esk and Wear Valley Foundation NHS Trust.
CAMHs Referral Process
Care is:
- Designed to be effective in order to attain specified outcomes
- Child or young person at the centre of the care
- Provided though a multi-disciplinary, multi-agency framework
- High quality
High quality encompasses:
- Clinical excellence
- Safety of patient
- As positive a patient experience as possible
Access to service is via: CAMHS Single Point of Access
Referral Email Address – tewv.camhscountydurhamdarlington@nhs.net
Telephone Number – 0300 123 9296
ADDRESSES FOR REFERALS:
The Mulberry Centre
The Rowan Building
Darlington Memorial Hospital
Hollyhurst Road
Darlington
DL3 6HX
CONFIDENTIALITY AND CONSENT
Before discussing a child or young person with a CAMHS practitioner, we would ask that you always gain permission from their parent or guardian. If a young person is aged 16 or over you can get permission from them directly, however it is usually advisable that the parent or guardian is made aware.
You can discuss a child or young person with us without giving their name. However, before making a formal referral, the referrer should gain the consent of the young person and/or responsible parent/guardian.
REFERRAL CRITERIA
Children, young people up to their 18th birthday, (and their families) with Mental Health needs or distress which is impacting upon their day-to-day functioning and cannot be resolved with appropriate intervention by Universal and Targeted Services within Health, Local Authority Prevention Service; the Common Assessment Framework process; Social Care; Education Services and the Voluntary Sector.
Our Community teams also provide high quality, specialist multi-disciplinary assessment, diagnosis and intervention for children and young people with learning disabilities and their families.
Presenting problems may include:
- Severe deliberate self-harm and/or risk of suicide
- Depression/mood disorders
- Psychosis
- Anxiety Disorders
- PTSD
- OCD
- Eating Disorders
- Significant/complex emotional/behavioural difficulties that have not improved following Universal or Targeted Interventions i.e. conduct disorder
- Neurodevelopmental / hyperkinetic disorders i.e. ADHD & Autism – assessment (depending on local commissioning arrangements)
PLEASE NOTE REFERALS FOR THE FOLLOWING WHERE THERE IS NO EVIDENCE IN THE REFERAL OF MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES WE WOULD NOT ACCEPT THESE REFERALS INTO SERVICE.
- Attachment
- Behaviour
- Sleep
- Nocturnal enuresis
- Post Diagnostic interventions for Autism
- Parenting
- Pre School without already been seen by universal services
- Generalised learning problems, without seeing an educational psychologist
- Counselling
- Bereavement Counselling
- Anger Management
PLEASE HAVE A DISCUSSION WITH THE SINGLE POINT OF ACCESS TEAM, IF OTHER INTERVENTIONS HAVE BEEN TRIED.
Factors to consider when deciding to refer:
- duration of problem
- level of distress to child/young person and family
- number of areas of child/young person’s life which is affected i.e home, school, friendships, interests and hobbies.
- other agencies that are involved and how their work is progressing.
Other factors to consider prior to considering CAMHS are:
- If there is a Safeguarding issue then Social Care should be consulted.
- If the child has a learning disability is there LD Nursing team involvement or Disabled Children Team?
- If the issue is related to family separation, has the family been offered information regarding Relate or some other mediation service for parents in conflict?
- Does the family want referral to a mental health service?
- Has the referral been discussed with the family, child or young person?
WHO CAN REFER?
All CAMHS teams operate an open referral system, i.e. anyone concerned about a child or young person’s emotional / mental health can access the services. This includes self-referrals from the child/young person themselves or their parent/carer.
We encourage all referrals to be made using the service’s referral form, with these being emailed from a secure email address to the email address on the top of the form; or through a consultation/phone conversation with a member of the CAMHS Single Point of Access Service.
