Referral

[Charlotte0607]

Hey firstly I’ll say hi as I’m new, I have two boys aged 10 and 11.
Just wanted to ask if anyone had any experience on referrals to the early help hub? We saw a doctor today about my ten year olds problems with sleep and behaviour and was told we was being referred to this early help hub, I didn’t really ask what to expect or what it really means or involves? I was wondering if anyone has had the same and could tell me what to expect?
Also does anyone leave without getting a diganosis and just getting told there a naughty/difficult child?
Thank you all in advance

Different services are called different things in different areas so I am not sure what the early help hub is in your area. However where I am, in Coventry and Warwickshire, early help refers to the CAF process. This is Common Assessment Framework, if you Google it you will find out more but essentially its about putting a team around the family to support with any needs. It's a way of ensuring the right agencies are involved and working together to support you as a family. Hope that helps :)

Not sure what it’ll mean for your area but it’s really positive they have an approach to helping early and hopefully getting you to the right service. If it’s a behaviour issue you may find your directed for parenting help first rather than health based. (Parenting doesn’t mean you’re a bad one by the way it just means helping with tricky children) x

I'm in Doncaster and in our Early Help Hub each referral is screened by a team of professionals from health, social services and family support. The team then decide what support the child/family need and who is best placed to provide the support. You could end up being referred to CAMHS or to community family support services. More likely the latter in my area as CAMHS are very difficult to get into. If they think that there might be an underlying condition such as ASD or ADHD then they will ask school to make a referral for a developmental assessment (GPs no longer refer in Doncaster).
And yes, lots of families don't get a diagnosis. I think the current diagnosis rate is around 70%. The waiting time for a development assessment is currently 9-12 months.

Thank you they did phone me and asked me to list things I was worried about, they then said oh sounds like OCD and anxiety so nothing we can do it’s not bad enough for CAMHS so emailed me some coping methods. I never thought it was due to mental health or nor do I believe it is OCD, I was thinking maybe he is autistic or something along the lines of having astuism but now they won’t help I feel a bit lost on where to go next.

This happens a lot. There are so many children that aren't bad enough for services but need some support. It depends on what is available in your area as to what you can do or where you can do next. The variance across the country is so different.
What do school say?

I live in Oxfordshire and in a similar situation, I went to see GP regarding my Dd's behavioural, sleep, anger issues, she referred us to CAHMS who have asked myself and school to complete a questionnaire on daughter's issues, they have since got back to me with a list of self-help and self-referal websites and also have suggested the SEN at school does a Formal Review of my daughter's educational needs (as she seems to be falling behind at school and finding it a struggle). Shall keep you posted....

Can I ask what issues you are getting with sleep? My son is terrible with sleep, he now has to sleep with his light on and I have to show him every night that his window is closed, then he is up untill really late hours after I put him to bed saying night Mum or I’m hungry, I want a drink but can’t get out of bed ect and then when he finally is asleep he is such a light sleeper if I was to turn his light out he wakes up straight away.
I can be up hours on end with him in the night anything from shouting Mum snuggle me up to a simple night or shouting he had a nightmare when really he hadn’t as I can tell his worried screams.