Anyone used BUPA for children's MH issues?

[MellerYeller]

DS (14) has told me he would like to talk to someone about his MH. He has symptoms consistent with social anxiety and possibly some mild undiagnosed autistic traits. He does talk fairly openly to me about these things and has managed without external help up to now, but he's recently experienced a girlfriend/friendship issue that has got him down, and, as a consequence, has been doing some online self-diagnosis which may or (more likely) may not have been helpful. I have ordered a relevant book for him, and told him I would look at options for finding someone he can talk to. He thinks he needs a psychologist, so he can be 'diagnosed' but I wonder if a counsellor would be a better option. This is new territory for us. He is not keen to talk to pastoral staff at school and I know that our local CAMHS service has very long waiting lists so want to avoid it if possible. We do have BUPA through DH's employer and I've confirmed that MH is covered by the policy. There is a helpline for parents who want advice, so I'm thinking of calling. Has anyone used this service? Ideally I'd like to know more about it before we dip our toes in.

We used BUPA for my daughter when she was self harming and very anxious. We didn't realise that whilst they do cover mental health, the policy excluded mental health issues potentially related to neuro-developmental conditions. We saw a Psychiatrist through BUPA for a 4 session mental health assessment. The outcome was they diagnosed anxiety, recommended anti-depressants and therapy but also said my daughter might be autistic. That was sufficient for BUPA to refuse to cover any treatment and we had to go via the NHS which was a nightmare.

Interesting, thank you. You'd think they would at least have dealt with the acute anxiety. But better than nothing.

I've talked through all the options with DS and told him I'll call BUPA if he gives me the nod. For now he seems content with the book I got him, though it looks like he's started messaging the (ex)girlfriend/classmate again, so let's see. She seems to like his attention but he has over-shared his feelings for her and she has been ambiguous about hers, gossiped about him with her friends, and switched her attention back and forth between him and one of his closest male friends/rivals - difficult territory for a teenage boy with social anxiety to navigate, though not an uncommon situation.

In my experience private healthcare will cover teens for anxiety and depression but as MadCat says they won't cover anything which is neurodevelopmental ie a permanent condition like autism. You can pay for private autism assessment but it is around £1500.