If you were a child psychologist..

[Gavlaaar]

What could you do to make parent's life easier?

This is the career path I'm hoping for, and am well on my way. A very close family member has gone through the horror that is the CAMHs pathway.

If I qualify obviously. what could I do to help? Of course I'd go above and beyond in an NHS role, but I couldn't control waiting times.

I've recently gone private to get an adult ADHD diagnosis from a psychiatrist. Cost me £300. Waiting times in the NHS are two years.

I know it's a lot of money, but maybe providing a relatively low cost diagnosis/ treatment option would be good for kids suffering with mental health issues? I guess a mixture of the two is quite likely. My diagnosis took place online, which was much cheaper and more convenient for me (and probably the doctor). I wonder if this would be an effective method for treating children?

I'm nowhere near qualified yet, but my primary motivation is helping children (rather than money, but I come from a poor background and hope to eventually buy me and my DC a house/ go on holiday etc so can't go completely pro bono ). Nonetheless, I'm not particularly interested in earning 200k compared to 100k if it means I'm helping less kids/ families.

Would be interested in your ideas re this?

Hmm there are a few flaws to your plan I’m afraid. Firstly I don’t know of any CPs working for 100k per year, try halving that if working in the public sector. If you plan to work privately/pro bono - how will you fund the treatment pathways for each child? You will need to have a suitable venue/facilities, administration, a case note system. For ADHD diagnosis specialist technology programmes may be needed. If working ethically you will need to pay for registration to a professional body, for case supervision and possibly (ideally) for your own therapy, given that you will be likely to see highly complex and traumatic cases, very often where children have been severely abused. This means you will also need to be part of a wider safeguarding network, contributing to safeguarding meetings, EHCP plans and team around the child meetings. Often writing assessments and preparing cour reports. You will need to have regular safeguarding, risk management, and a great deal of other specialist training, lots of which will need to be renewed regularly. These things will take up a great deal of your time (/money).

The children you will see will need specialist support and intervention - even if you were to attempt diagnose via an internet manual or the DSM, assessments take time and specialist knowledge of complex disorders, so the diagnosis would be only ever be the first step. Often your patients will have comorbid conditions and complex family circumstances which impact on their presentation and at any rate they will be individuals whose needs vary and differ: offering up a certificate of formal diagnosis will not necessarily provide answers. In most cases, parent work (psychoeducation for treatment management, family therapy, parenting courses, or concurrent support work to the child’s treatment) will also be preferable/ necessary, who will deliver this & how will you maintain professional boundaries, ensuring your work with the child is protected?

The CAMHS pathway might be felt to be horrific due to the sheer scale of the mental health needs for children and the lack of supply of Drs to meet the demands for the service. How would you keep your waiting lists short, given that many patients you see are likely to require at least short term therapy, if not long term treatment?

You sound wellmeaning but rather scathing and naive about current provision, which makes me think that you are largely unprepared for the reality of working in mental health. Those who do this job don’t set out to deliberately make the system horrific and complicated - it is largely complex and fairly thankless, as you begin to accept the reality that even if you worked 24 hour days, you would never reach the end of your waiting list, or be able to do justice to the needs of your patients. This creates a high degree of work stress and burn out as even the most highly qualified and dedicated professionals are stretched to capacity and are only human, after all.

Lorelei - I dof(f?)my hat. In one post, I can see the scale and complexity you people have to deal with. It will certainly change my attitude. Thank you

Umm youre post is very flawed .... psychologists do not make diagnosis.

Where exactly are you are you on your training?

@LoreleiGilmore is 100% correct.

Also an online diagnosis is not a diagnosis at all and we do not use the DSM in England.

@LoreleiGilmore is absolutely correct and clearly a username kindred spirit.

Whereabouts are you in training, I don't mean to sound patronising but do you realise the amount of years study and high level of competition to enter post grad courses there is to being a CP, or any of the other branches of psychology?

Also 100k made me laugh out loud, nhs wise after qualification it's band 7, and private sector hospitals are only marginally more.