CAHMS - Absolutely Fuming

[BathshebaKnickerStickers]

Sorry, wide awake in the middle of the night because I’m so angry.

My dd - almost 17 - was urgently referred to CAHMS last month because of suicidal feelings and plans.

She had an initial appointment quickly which was an appointment with a very nice nurse to do a background and initial information about how she was feeling and why etc.

She was then posted out an appointment for March.

Sorry, school and the gp both said sorry March is too far away, she needs seen before then, GP intervened and she was due a virtual appointment on Monday afternoon. She was told it wot be done via FaceTime.

She took the afternoon off school so she could be at home for this appointment.

No-one contacted her.

I asked her if she had maybe missed an invitation to a “virtual room” that she had supported to join at her appointment time - no all she had was a text confirming the time - no “joining” link.

No-one contacted her by FaceTime - I’m going to FaceTime someone it’s essentially an outgoing call I make to their number...

No-one phoned her - they have her mobile.

No-one phoned me - they have my mobile

If it was a virtual room that she was supposed to join rather than a FaceTime call, surely when she didn’t jjoin someone should have called - it’s a new system so they must understand that maybe people haven’t used it.

This is a suicidal 16 year old who now has had 2 urgent GP referrals in 6 weeks - the initial one and then this appointment being brought forward.

No joining instructions if it was a virtual room rather than a direct FaceTime call.
No call to her to find out where she was if she had failed to join
No call to me to find out where she was (she was of course sitting at home waiting for the phone to ring.

I am beyond furious. Obviously calling them first thing tomorrow but expecting to be told there is nothing they can do now until mid January or whenever.

Are they so jaded that she is “just another suicidal 16 year old”?

Don’t know why to say without being harsh. CAHMS might not be as effective as you hope. Can hear the need and desperation but don’t rely on it it. Often people want a cure which isn’t there. Delay delay delay. Try your arse off to avoid the suicidal thoughts given the permanency of enacted

Hiw come she was told about it in your absence, are you being excluded from these conversations about appointments? That seems weird.

I would not expect a Facetime call for a medical appointment. Are you sure she didn't mangle the facts to avoid the conversation?

Mental health care was poor pre-Covid it's probably worse now. There's a lack of funding and a lack of staff.
Unless ppl act on suicidal plans they're often left under Gp care. Even ppl who have made attempts can be discharged home.
I'm in no means agreeing with this.
If you have the means i would look into her seeing a child psychologist or psychotherapist privately

. It would give you more options and you would likely be seen sooner.

I’m positive she had the appointment - it was arranged directly with her as the GP deals with her directly as she is 16. CAHMS called me last Thursday to confirm that I knew the appointment time as it was brought forward with no time for a letter.

Maybe I am expecting too much although that’s heartbreaking in itself - the organisation designed to help her can’t even do a second appointment. I can understand if we had been going round in circles for years and nothing had changed etc but that was her 2nd appointment.

Her first meeting was face to face (Scotland teir 2). Maybe virtual consultations are easier to miss for the clinicians rather than having her sitting there

In my area camhs use microsoft teams,and you are sent links to join via email
I'm sorry you are going through this
Camhs weren't fit for purpose pre covid tbh,if you can afford private care do it

Our CAHMS has had a big makeover, lovely new refurbished building, beautiful paintwork etc... possibly style over substance

If it was Teams I still don’t understand why no-one thought to phone one of us when she didn’t show - as far as I know they don’t have her email address - she barely uses it - and the text message didn’t contain a link to join anything. It was at least a 30 minute meeting - was someone genuinely sitting in a teams room waiting for her to join and doing nothing...!

Our local NHS trusts has guides for EVERYTHING. If they are going to use new technology I@SillyOldMummy
I work in a school and spent massive chunks of lockdown making guides and videos on how to join a google meet as that was what we used

Sorry, don’t know what happened - if they are going to use new technology then I would think that priority 1 would be a guide on how to use it...!!! I presume CAHMS would use the same platform as other NHS agencies do - if my 80 year old mother was having a virtual consultation I’d expect her to get an instruction as to what to do

@Bluegreen70 - as she is 16 that is the only route we can go down whether it’s CBT or medication etc.

Are we really supposed to not expect them to be able to do anything..? If she was older would we not expect adult psych services to help her..?

I'm not surprised you're angry and upset but CAMHS are not a magic solution. Can you pay for her to have some private counselling?

I’m so sorry your daughter is feeling this anguish. My experiences (Scotland) are that adult MH team is superb, the CAMHS team (for a particular health board which is only my experience) is dire. I know they are incredibly stretched but I feel their communication is appalling.
Phone call immediately in the morning and I have everything crossed she managed to gain coping mechanisms. There may be scary times ahead, you and her both need contact details of those that need contacting in crisis. Also, please make her aware that in an emergency she is to get to a hospital or any GP and simply say (or have it written down) “I don’t feel safe”. In crisis, the system all works, it’s just trying to avoid having that at all costs.

She has had private counselling before and she sees a counsellor every week at school. It was her school counsellor who she told about her plans, which got the school involved as the counsellor had to contact her SLT who then contacted me

[quote BathshebaKnickerStickers]@Bluegreen70 - as she is 16 that is the only route we can go down whether it’s CBT or medication etc.

Are we really supposed to not expect them to be able to do anything..? If she was older would we not expect adult psych services to help her..?[/quote]
what do you realistically expect them to be able to do?

Hi OP, so sorry you & your DD are going through this.

I think some of the responses on here are really harsh & can’t imagine how you are feeling right now.

I agree that it looks like someone dropped the ball here so I would ring them in the morning, explain what happened & get another appointment organised ASAP.

Best of luck for you & your DD.

Cahms are shit OP. Sorry but they are-I am sure some great people work for them who try their best, but I've seldom heard a good thing said about them as a whole. I can tell you're fuming on her behalf-can you try to counteract it somehow? Try do something she'll enjoy and say you've spoken to them and it was a mistake etc-don't let her feel as if someone has not bothered about her?

@BathshebaKnickerStickers I am sorry you are going through this. I know it is very distressing.

In my experience CAMHS are incredibly disorganised and imo many of the problems are more to do with culture than resources. If you are going to pursue CAMHS may I suggest that you follow up every intervention with them in writing noting what was agreed and with time frames. I am afraid you have to be all over them because they are masters are wriggling out of doing what they say they will do and then covering it up and implying it was the families fault.

It may be helpful to get your MP onside for support if they don't put this right immediately or if your dd escalates take her to A&E and they may admit pending emergency CAMHS review if you think she is serious risk of harming herself.

We eventually found a therapist dd clicked with through Relate which have the reassurance of an umbrella organisation.

Good luck and take care of yourself too.

@Bluegreen70 - I’m on anti anxiety medication, have been for years, works extremely well for me.

As my daughter is 16 the GP can’t prescribe medication for her - I’m very pro medication as it works very well for me and other family members.

It could work wonderfully for her, or CBT could work wonders for her - CAHMS is our only access to such pathways because of her age.

And even if they can’t - what do I expect CAHMS to do? I expect them to turn up for an urgent appointment..!

Not sure about England but CAMHS in Scotland is a service that is failing so badly it is not a viable option. It’s terrible, we are supposed to receive something for the taxes we pay but we don’t. So you NEED to find the money to go private. It shouldn’t be like that but it is.

It's every bit as bad in England. There seems to be an endless pot of money for endless service reviews and A&E acute admissions but none for delivering an actual service

That's really poor service and I would complain they should have checked she could access it and then followed it up when she was unable to, so sorry you and your daughter are in this situation and things like this definitely do not help and it is very unprofessional of them. Services should not be promised and then not followed up on. Best wishes to you and your daughter

That's shocking, they should be doing face to face assessments in high risk cases such as this. I would take your DD to A&E and ask for the crisis team instead.

I work in a mental health liaison team and we see 16/17 year olds in A&E or if they are admitted to a general hospital ward. We dread seeing this age group as Camhs seem to offer very little compared to adult services. Someone has forgotten to carry out the appointment, ring up and say it needs remaking urgently. It was assessed as needing a quick response so that hasn't changed. You might want to use words like risk assessment and inability to maintain safety. I see she is having counselling, if you have the resources then a proper Psychologist would be much more likely to be effective. If she is clinically depressed then there may be a role for antidepressants but this would need a Camhs psychiatrist. Camhs seem to spend all their time talking about ''developing resilience " and unless there has been an actual suicide attempt which has required A&E do not respond quickly. If there is an explanation for how she is feeling such as trauma experience then in my experience there is less immediacy. Keep pushing, complain if necessary to the team manager, head of local mental health services or CCG and sadly you are more likely to be heard.

I'm tier 2, Scotland, big new shiny building too....CAHMS with us have been using a platform "attend anywhere" since March rather than attending the building with the exception of emergency appointments, which we've had two!! I would certainly be emailing the unit and calling them first thing to get the link and support you require, good luck

Working in education my experience of CAMHS is they are dire and when they do act it is to give useless advice without consultation with anyone who actually knows the child. I echo what others have said - go private if you can, put everything in writing if you can't and don't rely on them so keep pushing for involvement and time/dates etc.