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Teenagers

Parenting teenagers has its ups and downs. Get advice from Mumsnetters here.

Withdrawing from CAMHS

5 replies

VashtaNerada · 28/07/2022 04:30

Posted in 30 days but then changed my mind and thought I might find more people here!
We waited a long time to get support from
CAMHS for DD (14) for anxiety and self harm but she doesn’t seem to be getting much out of it. She currently has weekly online sessions which she doesn’t find particularly useful and the psychologist herself has said the sessions aren’t really working and DD doesn’t seem very engaged. She’s suggested moving them to face-to-face but as neither of us have jobs that are flexible that would mean DD taking two buses for a journey that’s over an hour, doing the session, then getting two buses back to school. Even if we do it towards the end of the school day it would mean her missing hours of school every week. Every part of me is screaming that this is not in DD’s best interest and that she should be at school with her friends. She finds schoolwork hard and needs to be there as much as possible.
She visited the school counsellor for a while and found that much more useful than CAMHS, to the point where DD no longer feels the need for sessions. She no longer self harms and does seem a bit more steady in herself although with teens it’s always hard to tell.
Are we allowed to withdraw consent if we no longer feel counselling is in her best interest? Would that then prevent us from getting help in the future if we needed it?

OP posts:
TeenDivided · 28/07/2022 07:52

I think you can pull her at any time, but you would then be back on the waiting list if you needed to reapply.

We just pulled DD from the waiting list. In the intervening 2 years we accessed help privately (counselling and meds) and then through post adoption support. She is nearly 18 so would fall off them at that point anyway.

KangarooKenny · 28/07/2022 07:54

Beware of pulling her off the list, so many desperate people don’t even make the list.

TheGoodDoctorTheSecond · 28/07/2022 07:54

My teen discharged themselves after two sessions, refused to engage. CAHMS gave them an open appointment which meant that if they wanted to re-access within 9 months they could just phone up and get back in the system.

Animallover2325 · 30/07/2022 14:37

We saw them at the beginning of high school for about four meetings, they decided ds had nothing wrong with him then along came lockdown and it started up again only this time he wasn’t going out and it made things so much worse for him. I got him into a private counsellor, if you can do even that she said he really engages with her. Put back into the cahms waiting list - two years later still waiting. I wouldn’t leave if you can help it. Even with the counselor though we’re started to see small changes x

Helvetic · 30/07/2022 14:51

Could you change it to every other week face 2 face? Organise it during PE or a class that she would be happy to miss and one that she is not finding difficult..

Personally I think face to face is far more beneficial than online.

Rather than pull her out, could you take a month 'off' ?

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