Could I have your honest opinions on CAMHS please?

[whateverisabeartodo]

I've worked in mental health in education for some time now and have been offered a role in CAMHS.

There is a good career progression, decent salary, job security, CPD, lots of things I don't get in my current role. However, in my area CAMHS don't have a great reputation and I worry I'd be selling my sole to leave a job I love and believe in for something that is better for me but maybe won't fulfil me as much.

So, just wondered if anyone has experience as a parent of a child accessing CAMHS and what your opinion was? Thank you!

I just echo all of the above. I’m sure there are some wonderful people work there but if they are they are stuck behind red tape.

DS was referred around 3 years ago now, we were very lucky to get offloaded from the waiting list after about 2 years to a private company for diagnosis, we received both ADHD & ASD diagnosis, we were then added to a medication waiting list. We haven’t had any more contact or support at all. Had to chase and chase for the medication review which we eventually got after his college tutor, the GP & I all got in touch to say we were at breaking point and worried with how much his MH had declined. We’ve been discharged from all other help and support. We’re now getting private therapy sessions.

SW here and they're useless. My ds is currently suicidal, I've been asking for a med review for weeks, now apparently his psychiatrist has retired so they're trying to allocate him to another psych and this could be weeks. Why they couldn't allocate alternative psychs in the run up to her retiring instead of waiting for her to leave is beyond me. The advice I was given was to keep him in a routine oh and speak to the school counsellor, at the school he can't access due to being suicidal.

Thank you so much for all your feedback, it's really hepful and helps me to consolidate some of my thoughts on the matter.

For what it's worth, I have a Master's of Science in Psychotherapy for Children and Young People, have full BACP accreditation (not just registration) and in that sense am more qualified than many CAMHS clinicians.

And yet, as I am a member of school staff I'm viewed by many as somehow not as well qualified as NHS staff simply because I don't work in a clinical setting.

I get paid a pastoral staff wage, not a clinical wage and I feel frustrated at the level of training I have put in and how hard I work to be viewed as a 'listening ear' not a qualified professional.

The upside of all of this is that I get to work with clients within timescales that suit them, never, ever turn anyone away (as long as they want to engage) and get excellent feedback.

It's just very, very demoralising being paid so little for what I deliver.

3 of my dc have been.
Ds2 is autistic, he was regularly demonstrating how he was going to kill himself at age 9 - we were told this was normal for autism and discharged.
Dd had a breakdown (suspected autistic with ocd, anxiety, depression and likely affected by trauma from previous years), was treated like she was attention seeking, was told off for forming a bond with one particular camhs worker, was discharged in a worse state than she started, still had all the above issues and added self harm and eating disorder.
To be fair she hasn’t had a great experience with adult services, due to covid, but she is now on antidepressants which are helping, but she has learnt to not trust professionals at all and bottles away her issues as she was taught by camhs and other services that she’s making things up (she’s not), and is wasting their time.

CAMHS isn’t fit for service right now, there’s a huge waste of limited resources, parent blame is typical when the children are atypical. We were in a desperate place, and our lives only got better when I decided to stop assuming that anyone would help us.

I don’t know whether you should take the job or not, maybe you can make a difference.

I often wondered what made my area so bad, I can’t believe that all camhs practitioners are bad, but I can’t work out how they let down so many families in my area.

My experience of camhs hasn't been great, apart from the long waiting list, they never reply back, they're quite unprofessional, I've even had a duty clinician laugh when I told him my child needed help as having suicidal thoughts. Oh and I was also you'd by another that they don't deal with mental health issues! They've seen my child for 1 hr and have signed him off despite them suggesting he needs one to one support. They're totally disjointed. That's a small snippet and after a 3+ year wait!

I wish I had the answer for you. I totally understand the need for career progression and self fulfilment and recognition through work. But unless there’s a total system and funding change I’m not sure you’ll find what you need within cahms.

There are no staff because it's obvious no one wants to work there.
That to me says it all.

I think the waiting list is just horrendous at the moment. But one of my teen dds saw them a couple of years ago and we had a really positive experience.

Maybe it depends on who you see. But she found it immensely helpful.

Would setting up a private practice alongside the job you currently do be an option for you? You would be able to charge a reasonable hourly rate, given your experience and qualifications.

(many years ago with an autistic child, we had an awful experience though... )

@needhelp34

Would setting up a private practice alongside the job you currently do be an option for you? You would be able to charge a reasonable hourly rate, given your experience and qualifications.

Thanks, I already do this.

Absolutely awful
My dsd would be dead if we hadn't gone to private sector.
Some nice staff chronically underfunded, no support but mostly uncaring, couldn't give a toss staff, who showed a lack of professionalism that astounds me

West Midlands here and also have found them hopeless professionally and personally. I imagine working for them is utterly awful-hugely in demand and hugely lacking in funding.

@Theredjellybean

Absolutely awful My dsd would be dead if we hadn't gone to private sector. Some nice staff chronically underfunded, no support but mostly uncaring, couldn't give a toss staff, who showed a lack of professionalism that astounds me

Thank you for this, this is my biggest fear.

Adhering to the ethical code I signed up to means everything to me and I don't think I would cope with an environment that compromised that.

Having said that, if I knew I was good at helping teens and their families, and could afford the not huge salaries, i would work them as I would feel it was almost my duty to help. Hence why I remain a state secondary school teacher and not a private school teacher or other job.

I wouldn’t know what CAMHS is like. Dd needs to be seen by CAMHS (according to Teachers/SENCO/GP) but ‘she doesn't meet threshold’, so We can’t even get her on the waiting list. No one will tell me what the ‘threshold’ is to get on the list, but I’m guessing because she isn’t self harming she isn’t a priority.

Sadly the threshold now seems to be ‘has actually tried to kill themselves’. It’s absolutely awful.

DD sees CAMHS, she waited 18mths after taking an overdose, apparently she was mistakenly left off the list, yet when I kept phoning to check they said she was on the list
The first therapist she saw was useless, she really didn't bond with him (in fact she had already said she wanted to see a female), he seemed clueless about teenagers and didn't offer anything other than a few printed help sheets and a melatonin prescription. The therapist she sees now is brilliant, DD is being assessed for ADHD, she's sorted a few issues with school and guess what...she is leaving as she is so frustrated and worn down with her experience working for CAMHS

I’m in my 20s and I was seen very very quickly when I was 16. I was really unwell though. Before I turned 17, they threw me into the adult services with no support or guidance. CAMHS was not fit for purpose back then and it seems like things haven’t changed. Caused me more harm than good and took years and years to recover from trauma. I’m happy now though

I can offer a perspective from a clinical placement in a CAMHS inner city team. Whilst I absolutely recognise the pressures, waiting lists etc discussed here I still feel the staff in the service were amazing. It may look from an outsider that staff didn't give a shit, I don't believe it's actually true.

They were underfunded, pressured and stressed but the team I worked in were dedicated, caring, professional and skilled from the support staff to the medics.
No-one there wanted a child to sit on a waiting list for months and months or to not be able to offer the service a child needed.

I didn't end up working there but I absolutely would in the future if I changed career path.

DH - depressed - sees doctor, gets referral for counseling and pills

DFriend - having difficulties at work, gets signed off for a few weeks, tablets prescribed:

DD - attempted suicide, took pills, sent to hospital, doctors completes form for a referral - 18 months and still waiting

It’s disgraceful how they treat our children.

Awful for service users and even more awful for staff. Don't do it.

An absolutely diabolical shambles of a service. Staff changes, staff leaving leaving no Doctor working there at all.

DC has now been with them 2 years and still no diagnosis or otherwise of a suspected condition.
Truly disgraceful.

OP - in my experience in clinical settings you will be disadvantaged by not having a core profession -
BACP / BABCP Accreditation is not seen in the same way as NMC / ClinPsych OT

They been recruiting outside of core professions due to the severe difficulties with recruiting -
If I were you I’d check out how your progression will compare to your colleagues in Cahms with nursing / psychology

I think it's important to recognise what is behind a shitty service. It is not the staff, or the aims of the service.
This is down to years and years of cuts and underfunding and a government who do not give a shit about your kids and their mental health just like they don't give a shit about adults either.