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Child mental health

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Original poster

Anyone had experience of an Early Help Assessment for DC?

4 replies

Dontyoujustlovecocopops · 13/01/2022 21:23

(I posted this in Chat but realised that might be a much better fit to post here)
My DS 11 is on the CAMHs waiting list for some mental health support.
In the meantime they have suggested making a referral for an Early Health Assessment to help support our family. Has anyone had experience of this and is it helpful/critical etc. I'd appreciate any views on this as wary of jumping through more hoops.

OP posts:

SandyDays · 13/01/2022 21:28

I work within a service which uses Early Help Assessments (EHAs) and my advice would be that all early help is consent driven, therefore if you go through the questions and the professional identifies a service which they think can help, it is still okay for you to decline that support.
They are primarily a tool to help you and those you are working with to understand the issues and to find the best way to support you and/or your family

Rufus27 · 13/01/2022 21:35

I agree with what @SandyDays says. I say that as an education professional involved in referrals as well as a parent to two children with additional needs who’ve gone through the Early Help process.

I didn’t feel it was critical or intrusive though at times it was very much jumping through hoops. It did result in extra support for the children.

Kitkat151 · 13/01/2022 21:42

It depends if you have a good EHAT lead or not.....It can result in all kinds of support that you didn’t even know was available....it can also be a complete waste of your time...... either way you can pull out at any time

Punxsutawney · 13/01/2022 21:47

We have had two early help referrals and both were a waste of time. I self referred a couple of years ago and Ds's case officer at our our LA referred at the end of last year.

Both referrals consisted of one phone call and then the case being closed.
Ds has a disabliity, significant and long term mental health difficulties and is currently not in education.
For us the suggestions given on the calls were not appropriate at all and the advisor on the most recent call, pretty much said she had no idea what to suggest.

I hope that it proves more helpful for your family.

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