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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To ask if you've had a positive experience with CAMHs

84 replies

Pancakeswithchocolate · 01/02/2022 23:05

We are currently going through the assessment with DS and, if we make threshold, will go on a waiting list for treatment. It feels like such hard work to try and get some help and I've heard such negative experiences of the CAMHs service. Has anyone had a positive experience? And for those who it's been less positive do you have any advice of how to avoid this?

OP posts:

TheDangerOfIgnorance · 01/02/2022 23:08

They are hugely overloaded and underfunded. They have been brilliant with two of my DCs once we have been seen. No stone unturned etc.

LovejoysVase · 01/02/2022 23:08

Tbh it’s probably going to be far more helpful for you to go into this without other’s baggage.

CAMHS suits some children well, others not so much, and loads depends on the postcode lottery.

I hope it’s nothing but positive for you and your family 💐

SpinningTheSeedsOfLove · 01/02/2022 23:08

My advice would be, don't be fobbed off. If your child goes in that room and comes out 'signed off from CAMHS services', don't leave the buidling.

BrioLover · 01/02/2022 23:15

We have had a positive experience so far, DS1 is still under CAHMS following a referral in January 2021 and diagnosis of ADHD in September 2021. He was already flagged as a high beef case due to his ASD though.

We do have to follow up on everything though, but we are used to that due to our experience of community paediatrics previously. DH and I don't wait for letters etc., we tend to ring them and politely ask after progress. I don't think it helps to make things faster but at least we know what's going on! Sometimes we receive zero information, sometimes we get information about how long something will take for example.

BrioLover · 01/02/2022 23:16

*high needs not high beef

Original poster

Pancakeswithchocolate · 01/02/2022 23:16

@LovejoysVase you are probably very right about taking on others baggage. However I do feel very out of my comfort zone in trying to access these services and knowing what I could/should be able to ask for or expect.

OP posts:

littlemisslozza · 01/02/2022 23:21

No. We basically had a phone call to ask if he was harming himself or threatening suicide. He was only 11 and having a crisis after covid lockdown. Unable to get himself into school and a shell if his former self. The answer was no, so we were not deemed in need of help. The whole saga was appalling. GP was useless too. We paid for private help instead and he's so much better, although still wobbly occasionally. So lucky to have been able to afford that option when we were desperate

Redribbonheadset · 01/02/2022 23:27

They were very helpful in the one 60 minut phone call i had with them about DS1. They referred us to neurodevelopmental for an autism and ADHD assessment. Which he is finally getting soon.

fancynotplain · 01/02/2022 23:30

CAMHS has been a huge, positive support to my family . I am so grateful for the top-quality mental health care we very much needed when our son was suicidal. They are under so much pressure with reduced budgets but if you are lucky enough to be taken under their wing, the expertise, experience and kindness could help you make it through. I wish they were funded to help all the children and adolescents needing them right now.

Doorkeeper · 01/02/2022 23:30

The process of trying to get help for DS from CAMHS made his mental health worse, and will likely damage his mental health in the future, as CAMHS taught him that there's no use asking for help.

I think child and teenage mental health in this country would be actively improved by disbanding CAMHS. They are not fit for purpose, and their staff are a disgrace.

giggly · 01/02/2022 23:32

I work in CAMHS and have used the service as a parent. As staff the hardest thing is when parents disagree with medical opinion and argue and argue their cause despite their child not meeting WHO diagnosis. Pleas bare in mind that most CAMHS services are for moderate to severe MH issues and again these are not made up by individual staff but by DSM diagnostic criteria. So while many parents will argue the severity of their children’s problems many can be and should be seen in a different service.
For school issues/ refusals while we liaise daily with school, getting children to attend school is an education issues and not CAMHS core criteria. Again a bone of contention with many parents.
I am happy and actively encourage my families to phone in to check up on progress/ reports etc as my workload would make you faint and I can’t possibly keep on top of all admin.
Oh and as for waiting lists, all postcode lottery. I work on average 8 hours unpaid overtime every week including public holidays, annual leave etc and I mean every week.
OP pleas go in with the belief that the medical team will make the best decisions for your child .

CluelessHamster · 01/02/2022 23:33

Our experience was mostly positive.

Until she turned 16 and they discharged her and adult services didn't want to know...

I don't trust a word that comes out of an NHS mental health professional's mouth these days.

giggly · 01/02/2022 23:34

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

Orangeon · 01/02/2022 23:35

That sounds tough @giggly but thank you for explaining it Out of interest, how long does a report take to be written up and sent? I imagine they must take hours to write and check?

Hellenbach · 01/02/2022 23:40

We had a very positive experience. Our GP referred my DS to the CAMHs crisis hub. We were seen very quickly by the most wonderful and caring psychiatrist. She went above and beyond to help us.
We then got referred to our local CAMHs who offered him online group therapy. When he struggled to access this they provided one to one in person sessions.
I'll admit the admin side is poor but they really came through when we needed them.

Original poster

Pancakeswithchocolate · 01/02/2022 23:42

Great to hear some positive stories. Sorry to hear the bad experiences of others.

OP posts:

Doorkeeper · 01/02/2022 23:46

Well, @giggly, I don't give a fuck about your taking offence. I do give a fuck about the way CAMHS treated my DS, when he was at the lowest, most vulnerable point in his life, and I also give a fuck about his now baked-in inability to approach adult mental health services, since he cannot face going through how CAMHS treated him again. CAMHS has taught him to expect rejection when he begs for help from mental health services.

OneMoreNameChangeWontHurt · 01/02/2022 23:47

@Doorkeeper your comment is offence at best and uneducated and damaging at worst. Speaking as someone who has worked for and been a recipient of CAMHS services.. they are a massively overstretched underfunded service who are crippled under the current government and wider nhs cutbacks. I am sorry for anyone who feels let down by any service however to brand an entire workforce of highly qualified staff as “a disgrace” is not helpful.
Op CAMHS have very limited resources as do any mental health service right now. The criteria and level of need is ridiculously high. Hence why I left the job. If/when a child fits the tick box criteria to warrant help I can absolutely state the service is excellent. How ever the bar is consistently being set higher. The care and treatment for children in crisis is wonderful. It’s just a shame those who don’t fit the extreme intervention criteria are often sign posted elsewhere. It isn’t the staffs fault as previously insinuated. Tell that to myself and my colleagues who sit through the referral meetings in tears wishing we could offer even an initial appointment to these clearly in need children, knowing they need support, knowing we can help, but not being able to do so.
Please keep your ill informed comments to yourself. If you have an issue PLEASE raise it with your MP/ your nhs trust: your gp…

ArcheryAnnie · 01/02/2022 23:49

The care and treatment for children in crisis is wonderful.

My DS was in crisis. They treated him like shit.

Doorkeeper · 01/02/2022 23:50

Exactly.

N0va · 01/02/2022 23:52

I was under them on and off from 11-16 (2010-2017). I had some awful experiences, I had about 18 different workers. eventually, I was working with the psychologist (2 weekly then monthly) and another lady who was my person for about 2.5 years and when I say that woman was incredible, I really mean it. I was so let down by the others and coached from a very young age not to talk and I attended every week (children's services told me I had to!) and did not speak, this went on for about 8 months, and every week; I would go and we would sit in silence, until one day I felt able to talk and everything came out and she really truly saved my life. She was there every week, even though I didn't speak. She eventually relocated but I'll never forget her.

I also found that most re-referrals that went in after discharge from the previous time, I was either told I was too severe for them or not severe enough, it took a lot of perseverance for them to see me.

I've also heard some positive recent stories about CAMHS from young people and their families that I worked with so there is some hope!

Doorkeeper · 01/02/2022 23:53

onemorenamechange how is my post "uneducated" when I am recounting my DS' experience? He was abandoned by the professionals who should've been there to help him.

Beamur · 01/02/2022 23:56

My DD was referred, seen promptly and the support offered was appropriate and helpful.

OliviaBond · 01/02/2022 23:57

@giggly

I work in CAMHS and have used the service as a parent. As staff the hardest thing is when parents disagree with medical opinion and argue and argue their cause despite their child not meeting WHO diagnosis. Pleas bare in mind that most CAMHS services are for moderate to severe MH issues and again these are not made up by individual staff but by DSM diagnostic criteria. So while many parents will argue the severity of their children’s problems many can be and should be seen in a different service. For school issues/ refusals while we liaise daily with school, getting children to attend school is an education issues and not CAMHS core criteria. Again a bone of contention with many parents. I am happy and actively encourage my families to phone in to check up on progress/ reports etc as my workload would make you faint and I can’t possibly keep on top of all admin. Oh and as for waiting lists, all postcode lottery. I work on average 8 hours unpaid overtime every week including public holidays, annual leave etc and I mean every week. OP pleas go in with the belief that the medical team will make the best decisions for your child .

That's because LAs fob it off as a health issue to send you on a merry goose chase so they can dodge their responsibilities until the parent catches on

PastMyBestBeforeDate · 02/02/2022 00:01

They wouldn't see dd for anxiety despite a paediatric consultant referring her after her ASD diagnosis because anxiety is an expected co-morbidity with autism. We tried several times. Fortunately I was able to get her seen privately and medication has made an enormous difference I dread to think where she'd be if we hadn't been able to finance that.

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