How to survive a long wait for CAMHS

[adviceneededtoday]

What do you do with an extremely depressed and distressed dc when the wait is months?

Ds can hardly sleep or eat. We get told to keep waiting. There’s no urgency but we need someone to do something?? GP useless can’t prescribe anything to call him down . He has ASD and other MH issues but over the years those were diagnosed then no action no therapy no real advice ? No risk to self so a and e not appropriate but what do we do ? At this rate he’s just going to get worse and worse

You need to claim DSA and then go private. It's the only way. This is what we had to do. Camhs tbh are worse than useless - they actively made my AuDHD daughter worse. Good luck X

There will be no help anytime soon in the public sector. This is a reality to accept but I understand it is a very upsetting and powerless reality to try accept.

Can you get a loan? If diagnosed already, you can access a child psychiatrist online who would assess the entire story here and prescribe. That prescription would then hopefully be taken on by the GP via a letter from psych to GP. This would possibly cost about £1000.

The other awful possibility is things escalate resulting in an emergency admission and child might get to see someone to prescribe something within the hospital setting.

Op my child waited 16 months post inital consulation - at the age of 9 - including violence to us and self harm - to have six weeks help from a Nd specialist counsellor - and when we finally got into that counselling room they said her needs were too severe and she needed to be re-referred to a different service.

What im saying is - do not wait for NHS MH help. Sell things, borrow money whatever - the NHS MH service is barely existent for teens and children - our GP told us that effectively there is no paediatric MH care in our entire region - and that we should go private - he put that in an actual letter

I am not entirely anti medicine for depression but I have to say - what transformed my childs very serious MH issues (very severe anxiety leading to barely leaving the house, self harm etc) - was actually the basics of wellbeing

Her school put her in forest school every week, they helped her make new friends, I put a huge amount of time (stopped working) into getting her out socially and into woods, walks etc - community eventrs, helping her stay in touch with friends.

now - its much harder with a teen of course, my child was young enough to be taken around by me to a certain extent (but believe me - my child was seriously unwell and many weeks barely left her room) -

but - I do think that these things fixed her / helped her and healed her

all happened during the 2 years the NHS failed to give her even basic MH support

Depression isn't enough to get CAHMS help and if you get it - it will be shit anyway

I would focus on reading around improving MH/ depression - there are hundreds of books in yiur local library - and just implementing all the methods we know work - fresh air, community, connection , good eating, calm and rest.

Tell your teen it's okay there is no rush to be better - and just keep being there for them.

If you google low cost counselling you will find something near where you live - there are often centres in bigger towns that offer this.

Young Minds, Childline, Kooth…. If your child will engage with them, all have good support systems and are used to talking to young people whilst they wait for more specific support. All have websites and resources to try to inform and help young people.

Barnardos helped my dd during Covid times when her mental health took a massive decline and camhs waiting list was 2 years long. I’m not sure if they still offer this support.

do you have an EHCP? What schooling/college setting is he attending? We actually were successful in getting some therapy funded through our dd EHCP.

Young minds are excellent- they gave me, the parent a lot of help and I even got a one hour appt to speak to a child psychologist. Our local council had some children’s charities which offered teen counselling. Ours was called Off the record, it was good though had a waiting list but it wasn’t as long as Camhs

Absolutely yes to those organisations that can bridge the gap. We went with Kooth but in Manchester 42nd Street are excellent and if there are any others like this in your region they may offer 1-2-1 service depending on your child’s need.

we waited 6 months for Cahms and I am sad to say dd got worse but on a positive note Cahms were excellent and she’s now 1 year on made a full recovery. I know many go private at this point but we received advice from others saying stay in the nhs system as the support services when you get to them will be joined up. Good luck and have hope that this can be turned around.

Apologies if this derails OP. Hope it helps others including you to ask ...

@Ursulla42 does your child have a diagnosis of Autism?

I am concerned about ever engaging with CAMHS because we had to go private after NHS rejecting assessment request. There are some suggestions coming from somewhere that child has behavior issues. I am concerned about involving CAMHS in case they run off with this narrative somehow that I paid for a diagnosis and child gets no decent support.

What about charities? I was quite surprised that Pride so free / low cost counselling, try them (not sure what fields they cover as may just be LGBTQ) or other more relevant charities in your area

How old is your dc, @adviceneededtoday ?This may not be relevant or appropriate, but my 18yo (with ASD; and ptsd, mild depression & anxiety since January) made a case with the GP to try antidepressants (and propanolol was also suggested, which can reduce physical symptoms of anxiety). DC is already having therapy via our local IAPTS service (you can self-refer into IAPTS, or other professionals can refer); the therapist was consulted re: whether medication would be appropriate, and she agreed. I think the medication has made a massive difference - dc seems a lot more stable, and calmer. I hope you get some help soon.

I took propanalol off label ( pinched my mums and I don't recommend this) for when I had to give presentations.

The impact. as you say, is on the physical manifestation of stress and anxiety rather than helping adapt feelings-for me it helps shaky nervous voice, heart pounding, stops physical shaking, helps the feeling of terror physically when faced with a terrifying situation ( public speaking in my case).

That then creates a loop of confidence mentally where you know you got through something without feeling the same level of anxiety and people seeing it.

The side effects can include drops in blood pressure. That's where it needs careful monitoring. Some have naturally low blood pressure, especially when they stand up. ( GPs rarely test your BP when you stand up).

Teach your self jow to do deep relaxation/Yoga Nidra together. I was taught by a nurse when I was 17 and severely insomniac (turned out was early stage bipolar) but completely helped me. Also the app Headspace. To learn mindfulness.

DD has horrible anxiety, and was diagnosed with Autism a couple of years ago.

We went private while my DD was on the waiting list for CAHMS - we had a great experience with them so 🤞 for you - I know others have found them useless. They knew DD was seeing a private therapist while waiting and they were fine with it. The private therapist did a whole handover with them.

Have you looked into charities in your area? DD went to Bernardo’s for some talking therapy which did help, but it was only blocks of 6 sessions so not long enough. School were able to help put us in touch with some other places as well.

We used magnesium flakes in the bath before bed (night times were the worst for us too) which helped relax her. Will your doctor entertain the idea of prescribing Melatonin? Ours wouldn’t but the local autism and adhd service would.

Was the ASD/ASC diagnosed by CAMHS? If you’ve had a private diagnosis then you’re going to need a private psychiatrist. If the assessment done by camhs then you need to see their psychiatrist. (You can still go private)

going private for an psychiatrist is ‘only’ going to cost 200-£400 and if they do shared care they will then put the drug script to the GP and they can take it on at prescription prices

We are seeing a remarkable reduction in anxiety with ashwagandha. I’ve never been an advocate for alternative therapies but this seems to work wonders. We also use Melatonin every night (prescribed) to help with sleep issues.

Ashwagandha made my anxiety worse!

With another (younger teen) dc who is on the pathway for an autism & adhd diagnosis, we were desperate re: sleep (also has a sleep clinic referral), but I previously saw advice on here about ordering melatonin gummies from the US (a company called piping rock) as it is over the counter there - and it has made a massive difference on sleep, mood, behaviour, anxiety.. I take them too occasionally and it really helps me as well…

Yes, it’s me always recommending piping rock.com on here. So so cheap. I spent about £6 on a years worth of melatonin.

Does your employer offer you and your ommediate family access to counselling as part of your employment package?

Also definitely have a look at young minds and reach out to school wellbeing team too.

Finally we had a really good experience with the eating disorder team at CAMHs

So tough to go through this.

Check if school have an EMHP or CWP linked to school. As there’s no self harm, they may be able to offer some support. They are an early intervention service. The government is pushing to have an EMHP in every school by 2030 but not sure how it works in each area.
Hope they get support soon. We ended up going private for a while but then when DD2 got really bad, CAMHS did step in.