Finding a private alternative to CAHMS

[BrightBlueCast]

My DS16 is very depressed. We're limping through the xmas holidays. He's been accepted by CAHMS but is on the waiting list which I understand anecdotally is about 18 months long. He's having counselling at school and we'd be happy to keep going with that privately once his in-school sessions finish. I'm wondering if we should seek private psychiatric help though, perhaps with a view to medication. I'm very uneasy about meds but realise it should be explored. I'm not really getting anywhere with Googling private psychiatrists. I'll ask around locally but just wondered what other people have done re. finding paid-for help. We don't have private medical insurance but do have a reasonable income.

If he has a diagnosis of depression and he thinks medication would help, he can speak to his GP.

My DD started on sertraline aged 17. It wouldn’t have been my choice but it was hers and I respected that.

Medication isn’t the right treatment for everyone though.

Have you looked to see if there are any local youth charity's to you? I work for one in Hampshire and they provide 121s as well as run targeted support and youth groups.

My DS was put in touch with some great counselling services from our private GP, she was adamant that he should try the counselling before going down the AD route and DS felt good about it because she took the time to listen to him. It's really helped him.

@FamilyOfAliens - I had understood that GPs don't prescribe antidepressants to under 18s and, in any case, they are barely seeing anyone at the moment. I've had a couple of very stressful, rushed telephone calls for other family medical matters over the last few months and this is too serious to be dealt with quickly. Hence I'd be willing to pay someone for a proper consultation. (Sad state of affairs all round, but it's where we're at!)

@lpchill - we're doing ok for support groups etc. School have been very good and we have support now from social services. It's a proper psychiatric assessment that I'm after (which is what we'd be getting eventually from CAHMS but I don't want to wait 18 months, by which time he'd be almost at the age where he'd be transferring to adult services anyway.

In a nutshell, I want to find the private equivalent of CAHMS where we can sit down and discuss the options.

Priory take self-referred patients, although they will be in contact with your gp in due course. You are usually assessed by a consultant first-off and it's certainly not an easy ride to get medication prescribed. After that, the consultant will pair you with an appropriate counsellor.
You will need to be able to throw at least £500 a month to this, excluding consultant fees.

Otherwise, you can find a BACP counsellor who specialises in adolescents locally simply by googling and reading their bios to find a good fit. Obviously, they can't prescribe.

I had understood that GPs don't prescribe antidepressants to under 18s and, in any case, they are barely seeing anyone at the moment

You’re right about appointments being difficult to get at the moment. However, DD’s GP definitely prescribed a 10mg dose of setraline at the end of her AS year and I still have the letter the GP wrote to her school to explain the difficulties she was going through.

But if he’s looking for a private equivalent of CAMHS, he probably doesn’t want to go the GP route anyway.

I did briefly mention depression on the phone to the GP when talking about another health issue, and the GP seriously couldn't get in there quick enough to say 'oh that's an issue for the school and CAHMS'. I imagine they'd write a referral for a private appointment if I needed one, but I have zero expectation of anything from them. And, with something as serious as depressions and meds, I want an appointment with someone I can trust who will listen. GP is definitely not that person. I realise it differs from place to place - we're quite unfortunate.

Hi @BrightBlueCast, sorry to hear about your ds. We were in the same boat with teen dc a few years ago. We also looked for private help as CAMHS were taking an age and I felt it was very urgent.

I found a private counsellor who had experience with teenagers. She was excellent and we could access that fairly quickly. I also asked for the details of a private adolescent psychiatrist from the GP. I don’t know how easy that would be to do at the moment but I think they are quite glad/relieved if someone goes private so they might oblige.

In the end we didn’t go to the private psych as things deteriorated further and I was ringing the duty clinician at CAMHS every day. They saw us earlier than they would have done otherwise. They were more moved by objective symptoms like disordered sleep patterns, lack of appetite, lethargy than sadness per se. We had to go through a very nice but ineffectual nurse telling us about sleep hygiene etc before we saw the psychiatrist and yes, medication was needed and made a huge difference. Not an easy road by any means and dc is still on anti ds but they finished school and is well on the way to a degree now. At one time we couldn’t even see them sitting GCSEs as they were hardly getting out of bed. Just to give you some hope. It is an incredibly hard time for the dc and parents. The current situation must make everything that much harder. My best wishes to you and your family.

@LionLily - thanks - Priory is one of the few that I managed to find through Google. No problem finding a counsellor but that's not what we need right now (as we already have one) . It does seem, then, that private psychiatrists aren't really a thing. And with CAHMS waiting lists being so long, I guess that's why you read stories of kids committing suicide while on the years-long waiting list. I know of at least 2 cases locally. It's chilling.

@ButEmilylovedhim - thank you for sharing your story. I'm glad to hear that you and DC got through the difficult time. We've seen DS go gradually downhill and we've now reached the no eat/sleep/wash/dress/up all night/no school etc etc. I'll get onto CAHMS and find out where we are on the list (if they can tell us) and keep ringing them to see if we can be seen earlier. I've now got quite a lot of evidence of things not being right. And, I'll also call the GP to see if they can help with private referral.

I do feel, personally, like DS is not doing enough of the things HE could do to help his position but, then, if he's truly depressed I guess he can't see the wood for the trees. He is also ASD so there are many layers of complication.

We have been through this process and found an excellent Counsellor that DD says has been really helpful.
We went off a recommendation but I would suggest finding someone who is associated with a local college if possible as they have specific experience
DD has been to other Counsellors before (including CAHMS) but refused to go after one session. She really likes going to this one and I think it has made a difference

Counsellor isn’t a psychiatrist. I’m asking about private psychiatrists. Counsellors we have and are relatively easy to find (and I have direct experience of). So far the only psychiatrists I’m aware of work for CAHMS which has a long waiting list.

@BrightBlueCast That sounds like a good plan. My dc was in a very similar state. I think they do get into a position where they can’t do anything to help themselves and indeed do all the wrong things. The sleep hygiene talks were very frustrating as what was suggested was just not possible at the time, not without the improvement that medication made possible. Wishing you all the best and hope your ds feels better soon.

BUPA has a mental health hub which anyone can use - you don't have to be a BUPA member.

www.bupa.co.uk/mental-health

I have always found them extremely helpful for pointing me in the right direction.

Also, some household insurance policies have helplines for all manner of things. It might be worth checking your policy to see what it includes.

Otherwise it's a case of making a real nuisance of yourself and ringing every single day and refusing to be fobbed off until you get the help you need.

Just to say, the private psychiatrist the GP would have referred us to was not visible online. The only way to him seems to have been GP referral.

Gp are ment to send anyone under 18 via camhs for any medication for mental health

If you are desperate for support and he is deteriorating if you ring camhs consultation line they note it on the system.the more often you feel it's important to ring,the faster they rise to the top of the list.
(Please note,I'm not advocating ringing daily or often UNLESS you are seriously concerned for his wellbeing.)

Where do you live? South east? If so I know of an ex-CAMHS psychologist who does private work.

I don’t know where you are in the country OP as I know of one in the south west. What I’d say is that very few private psychiatrists exists that do work with ppl
Under 18. Gps can’t prescribe for under 18s for psych medication as it’s rarely licensed so few private drs will touch it. Also NICE guidelines for depression are talking therapy first so a “good” psych wouldn’t prescribe without seeing that talking therapy, sleep hygiene and all the other bits that are not about medication have been tried first. I’m a CAMHS nurse (puts hard hat on) and would say that a good private counsellor should be able to do what you’re asking for, the only thing a psych can do that experienced other mh professionals can’t is prescribe.

I’m sorry I know you said a Psychiatrist but we didn’t manage to find one, despite being willing to pay any amount who had good experience of a (then) 14 year old. Everyone just advised us to go via CAHMS or our GP, both of whom were no use so we found a Counsellor, who has been excellent

Where, roughly, in the country are you? Eg midlands, north etc?

We saw a child and adolescent psychiatrist at a Priory when DD was 14, suicidal and self harming. CAMHS were worse then useless (I know they’re under funded but that didn’t help us at the time!) Psychiatrist was amazing, recommended a therapist and prescribed sertraline. He probably saved her life. I think the whole shebang (she had 6 months of weekly therapy and saw the psych once a month) came in at many thousands. We were lucky that we could make this work. I shudder to think what might have happened. In terms of a referral, I rang my nearest Priory, sobbed at the receptionist, she put me through to the psych’s secretary, we had an appointment two days later and the GP faxed a referral to them when this was asked for.

There are several consultant psychiatrists that specialise in adolescents that I know of. They do private work around their NHS work. If you're still looking pm me for contact info.

If you're in the SE, R W K Bamber who works out of Priory Canterbury is good.

He's a consultant psychiatrist