To think CAMHS are so shit! Poor DS is breaking down

[Mindgoinground12]

I've posted on here about mine and older DS's (17) MH. We have help in rl but tonight i just dont know what to do! I just need to get it down.
So basically DS has had MH problems for a while and has really struggled after a year of countless A&E trips, S136 by police and MHA assements. He was put on a section 2 then a 3 in early august he stayed at the unit for 4 months and was diagnossed with ASD (we knew this), BPD and PTSD with psychotic traits and was put on medication i finally saw my child coming back to himself after a good couple weeks with good camhs involment he was doing really well. Then christmas came... he started self harming again and soon refused to take his meds. I contacted his worker who said he would see his psychiatrist in the next few days. This never happened a couple days before chritmas he self harmed in a number of places very deep so we said he needed t go to hospital he kicked of and ran out of house covered in blodd. We phoned police who picked him up about an hour later where he was restrained handuffed and detained under a 136 (police section). I got a phone call to say he was really kicking of and police could stay with him the whole time. He was assesed had calmed down a but and came home. We had chritmas which was fine. Then a few days later 27th DS 3 (12) said that DS1 had been in our bathroom for ages i went to see if he was okay and there was no reply. I got worried and tried to unlock the door hed jammed it with something i got really worried phoned police, got the other 4 DC to go with DH out, they came broke down the door DS was covered in blood shivering and in a psychotic state, he had a knife and was threatning to kill himself. Soon I had about 8 police officers in my house 2 with tasers DS wouldnt budge they eventually got the knife of him he was restrained by about 6 coppers handcuffed again and leg strapped- having been arrested. Strapped down in an ambualnce so be couldnt move he was screaming and screaming and crying. It broke my heart. He was assessed under the MHA again and the team told me -ona phone call if something like this happens agin he will be back in hospital and wed hear from wither his or a duty CAMHS worker tommrow. I got him home he was tired and slept. I couldnt sleep thinking about evreything I love him, but he needs better care I have 4 younger DC at home and its diffcuilt for them to. We didnt hear from CAMHS the next day a couple days later we still hadnt heard from them I tried ringing and nothing! His worker finally messaged a couple days ago to have an appotment at his home today at 12:00 all fine. It got to 13;00 he hadnt turned up DS texted his worker no response. it got to 15;00 and DS started breaking down. I rang CAMHS and apprently worker of ill today, it would have been nice to get a phone call! I had to get DH to pick up other DC's from school. DS is know on a rampage has refused to see anyone from camhs and is threatening to kill himself tonight as he dosent see the point as people obviously dont want to help him. Hes refusing any help what do i do. I just cant do it anymore i love him so much and want whats best for him. But i dont know whats best for him anymore. WHat do i do tonight, short term long term. I just think however camhs are streched they could have done better.

I'm so sorry it must be hell for all of you, mental health services are not fit for purpose

Ask your gp for the tel number of the childs mental health team. Or go to a&e. It will be quicker.

But yes. Camhs are crap.

What part of the country are you in?

East Anglia

OP this sounds really tough for all of you. Is there an Early Intervention/First Episode Psychosis team in your area? if so could you push for him to be assessed by them, as he has been diagnosed with psychotic traits. These services sometimes cross over the CAHMS/adult boundary (they run 14- 35 in some parts of East Anglia) and are often better resourced than CAHMS and better at working with crisis. His other diagnoses shouldn't be a barrier if he needs help with psychosis.

I am so sorry. My experience of Cahms is very poor.
I would call the police, an ambulance and get him to A & E. I would insist that he is seen by the duty Psychiatrist not just the Cahms crisis team & stress that you cannot keep him safe at home. I would insist that they record your concerns in your sons records. It is a very poor / unfunded service but your concern is your son.

An alternative longer term solution would be a private psychiatric referral but that would require your son to agree. Your GP could advise.

I know there is no quick fix & my thoughts are with you and your family. I hope your son gets the help he needs.

I'm sorry I don't have any great advise.

Your post is heartbreaking, I hope you and your son get the help you need.

Thnaks one ill look into that.
Last night wasnt awfull i eventualy got some sleep but not much, DS calmed down abit but isin his room now and hasnt come out

I think im going to have this moved to child mental health as i know this page gets more traffic and was in a bit of a spin last night!

We're just sending this over to Child's mental health at the OP's request.

to you, OP.

That sounds absolutely awful for you Mindgoinground i am so sorry for what you and your son are going through .

Sadly CAMHS are shit. I am in Surrey and they were beyond useless with the added twist of being dishonest and unfit for purpose here too. It certainly wasnt all about resources.

My advice and no doubt a couple of CAMHS practitioners will pop along soon to say I'm wrong and have an axe to grind, is as follows:

Write down everything that has happened and everything that hasn't been delivered, note every interraction with them. Specifically note that if no support is forthcoming, and your son sounds like a critical emergency, then you will hold them responsible for the consequences. That muag be sent to the ceo of the mh trust, copied to your MP, GP and director of Children's Services at Local or County level. All corrspondence to be sent recorded delivery so you have an audit trail.

My dd was nowhere near your son's level but when she was depressed, cutting and taking small overdoses our CAMHS office refused to support her. I got her a consultant psychiatrist privately because i could. She had a mini crisis later that year and 26 hours after taking 10 anti-histamine and two spoons of benylin took herself to A&E to make sure she hadn't harmed herself physically. Paradoxically in conttrast to your son A&E didn't bother ringing me for four hours, and when I arrived had contacted social services, booked a 1:1 MH nurse and coerced her into staying overnight in an acute bed on a paediatric ward. She was 17. She had capacity, it contravened the MH Act on a variety of levels and indeed DOLS as applicable to 16-18 year olds. She was assessed in A&E and we left that night notwithstanding the fact that staff were incompetent and bang out of order.

Extraordinary there was money to spend like that to facilitate a CAMHS review. The same CAMHS who had previously refused to help her and which resulted in private clinical care being put in place. In spite of our local hospital having all that mpney to spend unnecessarily when CAMHS assessed her the MH nurse said she would receive counselling with a few weeks. This was then backtracked to being unnecessary for 10-12 weeks - until our MP got back from holiday when all if a sudden it was switched on within 2r hours of his return in spite of them having insisted it was unnecessary for at least another several weeks.

In my experience it is essential to record in writing every single thing CAMHS tell you they will do or can't do and confirm it back to them in writing. At the end of every letter you must write "unless I hear from you within ten working days of the date of this letter I assume you accept what has been noted as a correct record"

CAMHS and the system for young people absolutely stinks. I am quite sure it is not all about resources. Certainly those who work in the system spend a great deal of time making excuses rather than harnessing their intellects (such as they may be) to make a difference.

There seems to be a culture of running rings because parents feel vulnerable and of course for 16-18s it is difficult to be an advocate without consent and of course vulnerable older teens don't want to put their heads above the parapet.

Something really has to be done for pur young people.

My DD (17) has been unwell since year 5/6 according to her although the first we knew of it was in Dec 2015 when we found she had an eating disorder. She spent a year with the EDU eating disorder unit until she was discharged as she was unable to communicate. At that time we had one unsuccessful appt. with CAMHS(CYPS in our area) after her first suicide attempt in 2016. Self harm became a big problem for her around this time too although I now know this has also been years ongoing. In Dec/jan last year/this year she had 6 attempts at suicide through wrist cutting and medication. On Saturday we had another suicide attempt with medication and last night I drove for four hours not knowing what to do as she had a meltdown in car and couldn't get out. I contacted crisis team twice, they can only talk on phone apparently which she is unable to do due to anxiety and what ever else is going on with her. Drove to A&E but she wouldn't get out car and I couldn't leave her to get help so went back home. CAMHS is very slow in seeing her. I don't know what to do!! I'm terrified of losing her. My two DS both have MH issues also, I feel I have failed
Sorry for long post thank you for reading if you manager it
I'm desperate

Reflexella

Keep phoning police & crisis (regardless of their response)

No, this is shit advice. The adult Crisis team CANNOT see someone under the age of 18 regardless of the circumstances and the Police CANNOT use Sec 136 powers in a home - it only applies in a public place.

It would be a waste of the OPs, Police and Crisis teams time.

Reading this & knowing how oversubscribed CAHMS is with such long waiting list, (after 5 yrs of working pro bono as child psychotherapist for Place2Be charity) I am thinking is setting up my own child counselling practice, probably west and central London. I would keen to understand mum’s views on whether this would be worthwhile, any advice, ideas, thoughts & child emotional issues for which there is very little support.

My heart goes out to you. My DS is 12 and suffers with his mental health too. CAMHS are failing time and time again to provide any support, promises made come to nothing, medication reviews, psychiatrist appointments, case worker appointments are promised and never materialise. My GP cannot increase medication or introduce more medication without the psychiatrist prescribing it (i dont know if this is the policy for all health care trusts) A&E treat the physical injuries from self harm but are unable to offer much more, the police assist when needed but so far have not deemed him unwell enough to be sectioned. My DS is suffering, I spend hours on the phone pretty much begging for help, help for him, help for my daughter who is terrified and struggling to understand why her brother is behaving so erratically and help and guidance for me as to how best to help my DS.

I've previously worked in adult mental health and the services there are shocking to. So much weight is put on CAMHS, so much relies on their assesments and yet they aren't doing anything. They cover their backs on paper with statements like "advice and support given to mum over the phone." Or appointment offered and declined by Mum." Yes it was declined because i had a TAF meeting at the same time which CAMHS should have and said they were attending.

Its breaking me. When will things change? Sadly i dont see it happening and meanwhile more children, more and more families are in crisis.

Yes, and it would help imo if the CAMHS staff had sufficient respect to use parents' names like Jane or Mrs Jones or even John's mum or mother but that wouldn't be quite reductive enough for their purposes.

Last time I dealt with them I told the woman I was not her mum and woukd be grateful if shebwoukd please use my name. It wasn't well received.