Who are CAMHS?
CAMHS stands for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). We support young people aged 0 to 18 years who are experiencing mental health difficulties and are finding it hard to cope with everyday life.
Our teams are made up of a variety of professionals. Many are called CAMHS practitioners and have a nursing, social work, or support worker background. There are also:
- clinical psychologists
- CAMHS psychiatrists
- peer support workers
- administrators
in each team.
What we help with
Usually when we are sad, angry, stressed or worried these feelings gradually pass with both time and with support from people around us:
- family
- friends
- school
- support workers.
However, if these feelings go on for a long time and start to really affect your everyday life, then CAMHS may be able to help you.
At CAMHS we see young people with many different types of mental health difficulties and may depend on the team service. Some examples include:
- Low mood and Depression
- Anxiety, including phobia’s and obsessive thoughts and behaviours
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
- Self-harm and thoughts of suicide
- Eating disorders, including anorexia and bulimia
How we can help
Here at CAMHS we offer what are called care pathways. This means that if you are experiencing a mental health difficulty and need our support, we will recommend the therapy that is likely to give you the best outcome, based on medical evidence and guidelines.
However we also recognise that everybody is different. If you come to CAMHS it is really important that we work together with you to decide what kind of help and treatment is right for you.
These are some (but not all!) of the types of treatments you may be offered at CAMHS.
- Cognitive behavioural therapy
- Dialectical behavioural therapy
- Eye movement desensitisation reprocessing
- Interpersonal Psychotherapy
- Group work
“Before I came to CAMHS I had been suffering with OCD and Anxiety. Dealing with upsetting OCD thoughts made me very tired, and sometimes my anxiety made it hard for me to go out and do what I wanted.
I was worried I wouldn’t be understood at CAMHS, and that the experience would be very upsetting. But the staff I met were very supportive, and I never felt judged. I was helped to understand and manage my difficulties. CAMHS helped me to develop strategies for dealing with situations that I found difficult, and I was able to build up to them with smaller, more managable goals.
The techniques I learnt at CAMHS helped me to manage situations that made me anxious, and move past unwanted thoughts.
Now I’ve been able to do what I want, and even volunteer to help others recovering from mental illness.”
CAMHS Teams
