CAMHS Appointment in April - What to Expect

[EverybodyKnows]

DSD is 11- Year 7 - has been referred to CAMHS for ASD/Dyspraxia assessment, SENCO is doing tests and observations to try and help with her school work as she is struggling with it all.

We had a call from CAMHS before they agreed there was a necessity for an assessment. Letter arrived today and we are booked in for the Assessment Clinic in April after the easter holiday. I was told we will meet with a Clinical Psych and that they will send us forms to fill out.

It feels all a bit real and scary right now.

What should we expect from that appointment ? Would anybody who has been through this process care to share with me as I'm a bit apprehensive and also a bit worried as DSD will be present when we speak to them.

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Hi, I'm a CAMHS clinician, hopefully I can answer some of your queries.

• If you take an extra person with you they can mind DS in the waiting room for a bit if you want to have a chat with the clinician without DS being present. CAMHS won't mind that at all.

• The first appointment is usually for some information gathering and initial assessment of the presenting difficulties. The clinician should introduce themselves and explain the purpose of the appointment. It usually takes the form of a conversation although they may ask you to fill in a questionnaire or two. It usually lasts around an hour. They may ask your consent to contact school or any other agency involved for info as part of the assessment process. They will be happy for you to ask any questions or raise any issues that you feel need to be discussed. For the assessment they may need to ask about DS's developmental background, your family make-up and family history.
• CAMHS clinicians are usually friendly nice people and they will want you to be at ease during the appointment. It is fine for you to ask any questions e.g. what will happen next etc or if you don't understand anything.
• CAMHS assessments can sometimes take more than one appointment, and may involve a bit of waiting for info to come back from school etc.
• At the end of the assessment it is likely that a plan will be formed between you and the clinician about what would be helpful for the next step.

It's natural to be apprehensive of it all, but most people find the initial appointments are fine. Be prepared that you may not get 'answers' right away though. It can take a bit of time for things to get fiugred out.

best wishes.

Our first appointment at CAMHS was with a mental health nurse so maybe slightly different to you. She asked us what we were concerned about and what we hoped to get from the assessments.

She gave us some great advice about using strategies for children with ASD even tjough we had no dx.

Then she said that she thought that Dd3 didneed to be assessed and then she referred her on to the next level. Where a massive history was taken and we had much disscussion with the MH nurse and evidence was gathered before them referring Dd3 to the psychiatrist.

Good luck i hope your appointment goes well

Thank you very much. I can appreciate it will take sometime and we feel very lucky that DSD is being seen relatively quickly. The school have been really supportive with this process.

I guess I'm worried about DSD's reaction to it all. We told her that we are going to meet people so that we can help her feel better at school and less anxious in general. Transition to SSchool is a total nightmare. All her coping mechanism are now in overdrive. Obssessions reaching a very distressing peak ATM. We are finding it very hard to peel her off them as she seeks so much comfort in it. Should we tell her why we are seeing the CP ?

We had a phone interview with a nurse covering general points and questions about DSDs reaching milestone or lack of as well as what were the worrying behaviours. She thenh said it warranted an assessment which led to the letter inviting us for an appointment.