I'm a CAMHS adolescent therapist AMA

[CAMHSadolescenttherapist]

I have worked for many years in a CAMHS adolescent team in the NHS. We get referrals mostly for high risk and complex presentations: self harm, suicidality, emerging psychosis, intense anxiety, long term school refusal, family crisis and (recently lots of) gender dysphoria. This last year has been intense in our team, with many changes.

As the title says ask me anything. I've name changed for this.

@Rowenasemolina I cannot disagree more. Once dd was diagnosed and medicated for depression and anxiety she was able to engage with therapy and express her concern that something inside was wrong. At 17 she was diagnosed with a neurodevelopmental disability. CAMHS couldn't have got to that point because neither of the MH nurses who assessed her had the intellect to see beyond the ends of their noses. There was something deeply wrong for her but because she was well supported and loved all she did was cut and take small od's. She didn't take drugs, stay out all night, glue sniff or steal.

She had depression, anxiety and a neurodevelopmental disability. If she had come from such a dysfunctional background it had turned her totally dysfunctional she'd have been supported by CAMHS. As she was from a supportive background and was unwell rather than unwell and socially dysfunctional she got zero support. There would have been no differentiation had she had appendicitis. My tax statement says I pay x amount to the NHS. It does not say I spend x amount for physical care and x amount for MH care.

It is an utter disgrace and regrettably I saw no evidence that anyone in CAMHS gave half a damn.

@Isadora2007 to answer your question CAMHS teams are made up of people with a core profession such as nursing, occupational therapy, clinical psychology, psychotherapy, psychiatry, and social work and the majority of us have additional post graduate training in additional therapeutic approaches. We're all band 6 or above and will have at least 5 years clinical experience.

@Isadora2007 the same goes for the term ‘engineer’ in the U.K. it isn’t protected so anyone and their dog can call themselves one when in actual fact to effectively be an engineer requires an enormous amount of skill and expertise. Even after studying for a graduate and then postgraduate qualification there comes years of experience gathered from varied and complex projects in the desired field.

A person who changes gas/electricity meters over can be called a ‘Gas Engineer’ when they are not engineers by any stretch of the word, more technicians, which aren’t in anyway lesser than engineers it’s just a different role completely. The term gets lost and it’s no longer a trusted word for good quality work.

There is absolutely no point in berating, or asking for the CV details of the person who is stood there changing my meter that called themselves an engineer when I answered the door, we must insight change collectively as a country so that these professions are regulated. Which is the same for the OPs profession and counselling as you said.

As you can probably tell by my name I have a vested personal interest in the engineer example but it’s quite easy to see how the problems translate to other professions.

@Pandapotato You really don’t need to go to town on the OP about her decision not to tell you her personal details to answer your question. she is literally on an “ask me anything” about her JOB- how on earth is it “going to town on her” to then ask what her qualifications are?
Honestly I despair. 🤦🏻‍♀️

@FTEngineerM but it would surely be okay for me to ask the gas engineer what their qualifications were if they came onto AMA about their job as a gas engineer? No?

Anyway. Someone else (@Tulipsofamsterdam) actually answered a close to answer upthread. I don’t actually care that much...just found it off to say AMA except the things actually directly related to my job. 🤔

@CAMHSadolescenttherapist could you please tell us which area you work so all us parent's who have children who have been failed by CAMHS in their areas, can move to yours.

I live in Northampton and the support here is zilch.

@Isadora2007 I totally understand why you are asking but it’s definitely a loaded question as you’ve gone on to explain and the OP probably knew that (yes I’m assuming sorry).

I really don’t understand why someone thinks I’m troll hunting? I was trying to clarify what the qualifications of someone in a certain job they came here to discuss had? Wtf?

[quote FourDecades]@CAMHSadolescenttherapist could you please tell us which area you work so all us parent's who have children who have been failed by CAMHS in their areas, can move to yours.

I live in Northampton and the support here is zilch.[/quote]
@FourDecades my sense is that adolescent teams like the one I work at have slightly more resources, particularly the ones that accept referrals for high risk presentations. The waiting list for such teams is 2 weeks. Thus the picture is very very different to what we call "generic CAMHS teams" which have very long waiting lists unfortunately

Many of the problems stem from parenting, camhs is for mental health problems.
Many parents can't accept this.
Social care offer parenting courses

@justsayso

Many of the problems stem from parenting, camhs is for mental health problems. Many parents can't accept this. Social care offer parenting courses

@justsayso not sure I agree. We all have parents and many of us are parents- and those relationships affect our lives. We also all have emotions thoughts and behaviours, and sometimes develop difficulties. The two are interlinked. I would never see a "mental health problem" as separate to the family within which someone lives, not least because that family can play a massive role in helping them. But I would also, equally, never see something as purely due to "parenting" that can be resolved through a course and left like that. The two are interlinked, no?

[quote FourDecades]@CAMHSadolescenttherapist could you please tell us which area you work so all us parent's who have children who have been failed by CAMHS in their areas, can move to yours.

I live in Northampton and the support here is zilch.[/quote]
Here, too! In fact, I have a child with ASC and other conditions and have yet to hear of anyone who's had excellent support from CAMHS, sadly, with a great many people going private.

It’s a bizarre response to a perfectly reasonable AMA question @Isadora2007. The defensiveness makes me think there is something to hide.

I’d be gobsmacked if the CAMHS worker who failed to turn up to an appointment at my home last week and initially tried to pretend it was my fault for not answering then when challenged pretended they must’ve got the wrong address is a Band 6. I don’t believe that at all.

@Isadora2007 despair away! OP (and many others) answered about the professionals involved in a camhs service. She also explained why she didn’t want to tell you her exact qualifications. And yet you keep at it.
AMA is one thing, but asking someone to share details that might out them on an anonymous forum is rude and derailing.

Thanks everyone for the questions and shared thoughts and experiences. I'll exit now and name change back to my normal MN name. I've felt sad hearing so many parents not having had good experiences from CAMHS... it doesn't surprise me but it's also sobering to read like this.

I'll keep checking this thread from time to time in case anyone has other questions that I've either missed or that occur to you later.

There's no shame in attending a parenting course, the local ones are excellent and run by highly qualified and highly skilled professionals. I'd have loved to have attended one myself!

@Tulipsofamsterdam Yes, I agree. I’ve never been upset at having to go on a parenting course, I’ve been on three now. It’s always good to get strategies that might help - I’ll try anything!

I have always assumed that therapists employed directly by NHS have qualified via the degree and post grad route. I find it really odd not to answer the question and can't see how qualifications could be outing.

Thank you @Iseeasmile and @KitHenry
(Maybe the op is that worker from the other day you had 😂)

@CAMHSadolescenttherapist did you really expect the experiences to be different. All I can be sure of is that you do not work in Surrey

I went to my first and only post diagnosis group meeting this summer. One CAMHS staff member, two students on placement at CAMHS and one other family .The other parents/cares that had been invited had clearly given up.

Guess how long I had waited for that ZOOM meeting?

Three and a half years....three and a half years to get a post diagnosis discussion with someone...and I suspect I only got it because the pandemic had caused them to work digitally.

But their box got another tick didn’t it? That’s how it seems.

Women's hour were talking about young people's mental health services this week, posters might find it interesting. Quite a few responses from parents.

My experience is that if you want anything done, you have to do it yourself and make it impossible for the professionals to decline care.

DD1: Seen as a young child by paediatrician, followed up for 12 years, then discharged on 1st centile for weight. Referred to CAMHS in summer 2020 - suggested ASD assessment and that school commission Ed Psych - discharged.

Over the last year, we've seen the dietician. She put in an urgent referral to paeds again, no response. Finally lost my patience 2 weeks ago and phoned the GP to say 'Standing HR is 144, is this ok? Can you reassure me it's ok.' She couldn't, of course, and couldn't document no action. Sent to A&E. Admitted for one week and now has CAMHS psychiatrist from the Eating Disorders Team.

DD2: Fobbed off from the age of 5 at GP, Paediatrician (who offered to refer to CAMHS but told me it was a waste of time, so didn't recommend it) Seen by SALT age 6 -described many features of ASD, but said 'it isn't impacting her life'. Finally, age 9, I referred her to CAMHS myself. Finally seen a year later, put on the ASD waiting list (Very clear cut case according to the worker, no need to do preliminary appointments, just straight on the list). After another year, Psicon write to us - CAMHS can't cope so they're taking over. Year 7, age 11, assessed and diagnosed with ASD. Discharged immediately as diagnostic only. Her social anxiety is completely ignored.

@Lougle awful. I’m so sorry. What really winds me up is the ‘mental health awareness’ campaigns- what’s the pointin being aware of poor mental health if you can’t get any help?

I wrote earlier about my experiences as the mum of two children with Tourette’s and how badly CAMHS supported us and then through that.
For me - if a medical specialty cannot cope with a defined neuropsychiatric condition, and also abdicates responsibility for helping a child to cope with that condition. And they make the excuse that ‘it’s complex’, ‘it falls between specialties’, that sums up for me how crap CAMHS is.
If you don’t know how to manage Tourette’s- then learn how to. It’s complex, it’s awful for the children. It’s difficult for the families.
Don’t say ‘it’s not my job’ so I don’t need to try.
I’ve had Medical Directors in Psychiatry tell me that their colleagues don’t know much about Tourette’s and somehow this is supposed to excuse their lack of management and support of my now adult children.
I’m writing this - not to blame the OP - but in the hope that maybe she reads this and realised how much CAMHS are failing children with Tourette’s and it’s not ok

@WouldLoveToGoOnHoliday My DD has a tic disorder and cahms just say - we don't deal with tourette's. Well who the hell does then because the paediatrician discharged her to cahms to deal with it.

My dd15 had sudden onset 5 months ago. Severe and debilitating motor and vocal tics. Echolalia and echpraxia both present. Yes it was triggered by overwhelming anxiety that cahms should be able to help with in time, but it has been life changing for her and is also a barrier to her successfully accessing support because the tics and tic attacks literally get in the way of being able to properly participate.

Is my case unusual then? Everyone talks of long waiting lists. Dd took an overdose on Dec 1st. She was seen by CAMHS in A and E and seen for the assessment within two weeks. She started therapy at the beginning of Jan.