CAMHS

[Weetabixchanger]

My 6 year old has been referred to CAMHS due to severe anxiety. We have been told our appointment will be in the next 2-4 weeks.

Has anyone any experience of CAMHS? What is likely to happen in first/subsequent appointments? Any advice gratefully appreciated.

TIA

My son saw CAMHS for anxiety aged 11. Took us 2 years to be accepted for assessment. I think we were rejected first time in the hope we would just go away but the anxiety got worse and he was missing school up to 3 days a week.

Apart from that....once he was seen, it was a very positive and productive experience for both of us. First he was assessed, with me contributing, by consultant paediatric psychiatrist who diagnosed separation anxiety( helpful- I thought it was panic attacks but clear diagnosis helped).

Then he saw psychiatric nurse every few weeks for about a year. I would go in for first ten minutes and got clear advice on how to help him, then he was left alone with the psychiatric nurse for the rest of the session. They would talk through what anxiety is, explore why it was happening to him, strategies to help.

He's 14 now and will always be anxious. Everything is a catastrophe and a drama!!!! But we can work through stuff. The bottom line is, he is much happier, functioning normally and attending school again.

Not fit for purpose. Idle, uncaring, disorganised and incompetent. There is little or no help for young people with MH problems in this first world country. If you break a bone a nurse triages and refers to a specialist doctor. If you have a problem with your head a GP refers to CAMHS and a nurse makes an assessment that may or may not be accurately disseminated to the multidisciplinary team.

There is a way to help one's children, it's to find the money to pay for private care. DD has worked out at about £500pcm for two years, tailing off now.

Word of advice for parents: either record your conversations with CAMHS or write and confirm what has been agreed. And Complain.

My experience is the same as TanteJeanne's. 2 & 1/2 years on waiting list to be assessed. We didn't go away. Things came to a head and now we are being seen. My 11 yr old has been given strategies to help his anxiety. He's doing ok now.

It must depend on area, but we have had nothing but help from our local camhs. They involve us at all times, give our child space to speak alone, we have mobile numbers and email addresses to contact them in emergencies. We have home visits, visits to college to speak to tutors, and now have been referred for CBT to see if it will help.
You don't need to stay seeing the first counsellor you see, as you won't necessarily get along with them. Luckily we did with ours, but they did say you can ask to change if you want to.
I think give it a go and see for yourself if you think it will help your dd and your family. Oh, and there is no quick fix. All the best