Please help. How do I go about finding a child physiatrist?

[Adviceneededplease9]

I am in desperate need.
I have a 10 yo DS who I believe needs to see a psychiatrist ASAP.
He has opened up to me this evening which I’m so proud of him for about some pretty scary feelings he’s been having.
Should I go to the gp or speak to his SENCO at school?
I’m really worried and I want to get him some help, he has asked me to help him.

GP is best. You could call Young Minds for support. If there’s any immediate risk to life then A and E will have access to CAMHS - Child and Adolescent Mental Health.

You need a referral from a gp as it's a speciality. Used to work in this field and saw some brilliant people at work. If you are nr a big city e.g. Mcr or London there will be a wider choice. I worked for a uni so the medical school had a great child psychiatry section led by an inspiring person.

Maybe Young Minds' parents advice section can help as an interim, until you can speak to a professional?

youngminds.org.uk/find-help/for-parents/

Wish you and your son all the best. Sounds a distressing time.

Go to GP in the first instance. They will hopefully refer you to CAMHS, but it will take a while. GP should be able to help in the meantime.
And yes, mention it to school, so they can support him there.

Good luck.

x-post re Young Minds.

I work as admin in CAMHS. You Can self-refer your son, ask your school nurse or GP to refer.
Your son will be assessed by a mental health nurse or practitioner who will then discuss with colleagues who will together decide what help your son needs.
You will rarely see a psychiatrist straight away.
However, if you fear for his own safety you should take him to A&E where he will be assessed by your local CAMHS crisis team, this may be a psychiatrist or a mental health nurse.

I hope you and your son get the help you need.

💐

Young minds sounds like a good first step. I will get advice I think from them on what to do on Monday once he’s in school and I can talk without him possibly over-hearing but I need to take this further and find some real serious help.
There is no immediate threat to his life or his safety I’m certain of that, they weren’t the sorts of thoughts he’s been talking about.
He has already been through CAMHS and discharged as he had his diagnosis but if I went to the gp we would get fast tracked back in for an immediate appointment.
I’m just not certain that CAMHS is what we need.

I'm not sure what you need/want. Do you think he might need medication, a medication review? Or input regarding his existing diagnosis/mental health. Might a private psychologist specialising in children and young people be useful? You can find registered psychologists via this website <a class="break-all" href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=www.bps.org.uk/public/find-psychologist&ved=2ahUKEwj06OGT9oboAhXGNcAKHeQ7AZoQFjAAegQICBAD&usg=AOvVaw1KvETn-qWZsA_SU_XhmAe6" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=www.bps.org.uk/public/find-psychologist&ved=2ahUKEwj06OGT9oboAhXGNcAKHeQ7AZoQFjAAegQICBAD&usg=AOvVaw1KvETn-qWZsA_SU_XhmAe6

It’s more for specific feelings he says that he has. I know it will be easy to judge him from an outside view and that terrifies me but please remember in your responses that he is a 10 year old boy.
He’s said he has allot of feelings that he doesn’t really understand why he has but he feels like there’s something mentally wrong with him and can I help him
He has said that when he does things he shouldn’t be doing he feels happy.
He fights quite a bit and has said that he feels happy when he hurts other people and doesn’t feel guilty.
He has said that he can’t help lying and that the reason he lies is partly guilt for things he’s done and partly to get out of trouble and put blame onto other people instead of himself.
He often apologises and seems to feel sorry for his words and actions after a talk be it at home or at school but through talking he said he doesn’t usually feel like he’s done anything wrong he just agrees with what other people say to him (which then makes it seem as though he understands).
There were other less serious things but I’m so worried about the fact that he said he feels happy when he hurts other people
He is diagnosed with ADHD and in his diagnosis asd traits but not a diagnosis of asd. Could this all be a part of the this because I’m so worried it could be something more.
I’m so worried about him. Life at home has been tough lately with allot of verbal abuse and defiance from him but I am so proud of him and I have told him I am so proud of him for talking to me about all this this evening.
I have assured him that there is nothing mentally wrong with him and he can leave his worry with me now we’ve spoken and I have promised him we will get some help.
I’ve asked him if he could write down his thoughts and feelings for me and would it be ok to share with a teacher and he’s said yes so we will do that in the morning.
I just need to address all this ASAP and get him the help he needs and is even asking for.

Are you in or anywhere near London?

Look up the Therapeutic Consultants. If it is a psychiatrist you need- they will refer. They also have psychologists and psychotherapists.

No I’m a couple of hours from London and I can’t drive.

Bumping the thread for any more advice.
My mind can’t stop worrying about all of this.
Young minds helpline isn’t open until Monday although I couldn’t call over the weekend anyway to be honest I don’t want him to hear me talking about him.
I am going to take DS for a walk today just me, him and a flask of hot chocolate so we can keep chatting and I just want him to know that no matter what he feels and whatever he is experiencing in his mind I love and accept him as him, I’m just so worried about the things he has said to me, of course outwardly I am not showing this worry but I have said to him that we will get some help for this.
Does anyone have similar experience?
And if so what have you done to find help?

Hi, we're moving this thread over to our Child Mental Health topic, at the OP's request.

Sending good wishes to you and your boy, OP.

Thank you @JoMumsnet

It’s hard to offer advice as you haven’t disclosed what your son said to you.

@TowandaForever she did

How are you and your DS doing, OP?

Hope by now you've had some useful RL guidance & support?

x

As you wrote the top boy I was thinking he sounds like my ds who has ADHD and then you put his diagnosis.
Mine at age ten went through a very similar patch of telling me he couldn't help things, his body wanted to hit something, etc - this has stopped now and he seems happier to know what it is and he is doing well.
I'd try the GP tbh but you'd need to take him I think. Or maybe phone advice?

Just so there’s no confusion - CAMHS is now called Young Minds Matter

@coattails not at the CAMHS where I work it isn't. CAMHS stands for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service and is not a nationwide blanket service - it is offered by NHS Trusts very locally, e.g where I work, each London borough has CAMHS and each have slight differences on referral criteria, whether they accept self referrals, types of issues they are commissioned to deal with, and crucially, waiting times. It is not necessarily a long wait from referral to treatment, for example in my team we contact families within 5 days of a referral.
OP - if your ds has a CAMHS history, I would advise contacting them and asking to speak to a duty clinician or preferably the clinician who diagnosed and treated your ds previously. They should be able to advise on the best next steps to get him re referred to CAMHS.
Best of luck to you both

Thank you for the replies I’ve just caught up.
So yesterday I spent a long time calling through to different services.
I spoke to young minds and ADDISS who were helpful and I also called CAMHS where he received his diagnosis.
I had unfortunately missed the call back from the clinician but they left a voicemail saying that I need to get a referral from school or the gp to get back in and they would then see whether medication or mental health services would be more appropriate.
I spoke with school today and they are also being fantastic. I asked about the potential of him speaking to a school counsellor if they have such a thing but the teacher I spoke to wasn’t sure.
I have a meeting in a couple of days where I will ask if they can do a referral as the teacher I spoke to today said that she isn’t too sure on that procedure either.
If CAMHS can’t offer anything without a long wait and there is no school counsellor available I would like to try and find something within an affordable budget for some private counselling.
He actually was a fair bit calmer over the weekend (maybe due to getting all that off his chest). He has gone back to school this week though and has been in trouble for a few things and has continued with the rudeness and the swearing.
I need to understand exactly where he’s at as currently wherever we go and whoever we encounter (well allot of the time) he thinks people are being rude or mean. For example the lady who asked me to put my card in a machine yesterday to draw money out he interpreted as shouting at me and being rude and the lady at the checkout in the shop afterwards who was having a laugh with us and being friendly he interpreted as her being really mean and unkind and laughing at us.

Sorry @TowandaForever it took me a few messages to get to the point.

@MPForFlydaleNorth thank you for clarifying, it’s obviously my borough that works like this.

@Adviceneededplease9 I’m glad you’ve had a productive day.

@Adviceneededplease9 glad you're on the way to getting help and that your ds is feeling calmer

@CoatTails and @MPForFlydaleNorth thank you.
I’ve managed to get him onto a wait list for 6 free counselling sessions!
There were no available appointments for assessment in the next 4 weeks but they’ve said if a cancellation is to happen then we will get a call to come in but if not then hopefully in around 4 weeks so I’m just waiting for the call back.
I’ve also managed to get onto a course which will include him, myself and my other son to help him too through a school referral.
I will ask tomorrow about the referral back to CAMHS but I’m not too sure that it’s going to be needed right now. I suppose the only thing to discuss would be medication as the mental health help I’ve managed to get elsewhere. I’ve always been pretty dead set against the idea of medication for him but perhaps it would be worth going in to have a chat about it and to include him now that he’s a bit older, I’m not sure.