The child and adolescent mental health service (CAMHS) specialise in providing help and treatment to children and young people who have emotional, behavioural and mental health problems.
What CAMHS can do:
- Give support and professional advice for under 18's
- Provide weekly appointments to talk about issues
- Suggest different types of therapy to explore mental health
- Work one-to-one or with carers and parents
Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust have ten CAMHS teams located across the trust area.
Read more about each of the teams below:
The referral process
The majority of referrals for children and young people are recieved from GPs. Once a referral is received an appointment will be made to see a member of the CAMHS team as soon as possible and this could be at the local CAMHS centre, own home, school or GP surgery.
CAMHS team
Each CAMHS team is made up of:
- Clinical psychologists
- Community nurses
- Psychiatrists
- Primary mental health workers
- Looked after children social worker
- Support Worker
CAMHS teams may have other specialist team members, see individual localities for more information on staff members.
Examples of child and adolescent mental health conditions that CAMHS can help with:
- emotional disorder - phobias, anxieties and depression
- conduct disorder - stealing, defiance and anti-social behaviour
- hyperkinetic disorder - Attention Deficit Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
- developmental disorder - delay in developing skills such as speech and social ability
- eating disorders - anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa
- habit disorders - sleeping problems, tics
- post-traumatic syndromes - post traumatic stress disorder
- Somatic disorders - chronic fatigue syndrome
- Psychotic disorders - Schizophrenia, manic depressive disorder or drug-induced psychoses
All CAMHS teams also offer a rapid response service to young people who deliberately self harm and are admitted to hospital. Referrals are received from Accident and Emergency Departments and a hospital seven day service is offered.