Professionals, Carers and Parents
What is the Wellbeing Hub?
The new model recognises that not all children and young people’s emotional and well-being needs are best supported in specialist CAMHS services, but rather within their own wider networks of support.
The Wellbeing Hub will support children and young people with emotional and psychological needs/disorders by providing both assessments, signposting and referral to the most appropriate type of support from universal and targeted services, and direct specialist support when required.
The Wellbeing hub is, therefore, the front door to all local Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health Support services.
The Wellbeing Hub will accept self-referrals and Parent/Carer referrals, along with referrals from professionals.
The Wellbeing Hub will process all referrals through a single point of access, and ensure CYP have access to a network of support including online support, self-help strategies, and voluntary community support services.
The Wellbeing Hub will also offer an integrated pathway between universal services and specialist community multi-disciplinary CAMHS teams to ensure children and young people are offered the right intervention dependent on their need (which can fluctuate) with interventions along the care pathway responsive to these changing needs (as described in the Thrive quadrants).
The Wellbeing Hub will provide outreach, advice and consultation for partner agencies, along with brief intervention support when appropriate.
The Wellbeing Hub will also access specialised services such as inpatient services and specialist outpatient services such as Crisis Support (Interact), Eating Disorder Services, Early Intervention in Psychosis services etc, as required, with a focus on providing early intervention and minimising the need for inpatient care.
As children and young people’s emotional wellbeing and mental health affect all aspects of their lives, no one service alone will be able to meet all their needs.
Therefore, a key ingredient of success in implementing this plan will be to fully explore new ways of working, and develop collaborative arrangements with partners (including schools and the community voluntary sector) to make our vision a reality.
Looking for help with training?
NHS London Healthy Partnerships has developed an amazing resource for all professionals. It's a comprehensive directory and can be accessed by clicking on the link at the right-hand side.
Guidance for parents
Please be aware that while we are happy to look at assessment reports and any prescribed treatments, medication and diagnosis, which you may have acquired from another NHS service, privately or historically, we are always required to conduct our own assessment before providing any form of intervention.
All prescribers MUST make their own assessment before providing any prescriptions. In the interim, any ongoing medication or treatment that was recommended and/or prescribed as part of the previous assessment will need to be provided by that organisation.
We will review this with you as part of our assessment, though we cannot guarantee that we will provide the same treatment, as any intervention will be informed by our clinical judgement. If you decide to seek a private second opinion outside the NHS, then you will be responsible for any cost incurred.
“Mental Health is everyone’s business.”
What is a...
...Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist?
A child and adolescent psychiatrist is a medically qualified doctor who specialises in understanding and working with mental health difficulties children and young people experience. A large part of their work involves identifying what the difficulties are, understanding what may have caused them to develop, and giving advice about what may help. Psychiatrists are also able to recommend and prescribe medication.
...Clinical Psychologist?
Psychologists are trained to understand behaviour, relationships and emotions and assess these using psychometric tests if they feel this would be useful. Psychologists are able to offer a range of therapies for difficulties such as phobias, eating disorders, depression, anxieties and relationship difficulties. They can also offer parenting advice and family therapy. Unlike psychiatrists who are medically qualified, psychologists cannot prescribe drugs.
...Clinical Nurse Specialist?
A clinical nurse specialist in CAMHS is a senior nurse (RGN or RMM qualified) who has specialised in the area of child/young person/family psychiatry. They have been trained in identifying any signs which may be connected with mental health difficulties. They are able to offer a wide range of therapies/ interventions to families whose child(ren) are experiencing emotional or behavioural difficulties. Some may further specialise in particular therapies such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), or have particular interests such as childhood bereavement, eating disorders or children who are ‘looked after’.
...Family Therapist?
Family therapists help family members find constructive ways to help each other. They work in ways that acknowledge the contexts of people's families and other relationships, sharing and respecting individuals' different perspectives, beliefs, views and stories, and exploring possible ways forward. Please download the Association for Family Therapy and Systemic Practice (AFT)'s 'What is family therapy' leaflet for more information.
...Primary Mental Health Worker?
Primary Mental health Workers may come from a variety of backgrounds e.g. social work, nursing, counselling. They work with children and young people who are experiencing emotional, behavioural or mental health difficulties. The idea being that these workers will work with children and young people at the early stages of their difficulties. A large part of their work is doing consultation with professionals who are already working with a child e.g. a teacher.
...STAR worker?
A STAR (Support, Time and Resilience) worker may come from a variety of backgrounds, part of their role include working within schools to promote emotional health and wellbeing.
...Child & Adolescent Psychotherapist?
Child and Adolescent Psychotherapists spend a large part of their training understanding infant behaviour and early relationships, and recognising the impact of early experiences on later life and relationships. They work mainly with children and teenagers in 1:1 therapy, and see parents/ carers to support the individual therapy the young person is having. Psychotherapists usually provide once-weekly, long-term work with young people, and in addition, liaise with schools, do detailed assessments, case reviews and some joint work with social services. In therapy, the psychotherapist aims to provide an environment in which the child or young person can play and enquire, and through the therapist-young person relationship, the young person can begin to make sense of their experiences.
...Specialist CAMHS Worker?
Specialist CAMHS Workers are trained to work with young people and their families who are experiencing relationship or emotional difficulties. Specialist CAMHS Workers can undertake individual work with young people using a range of therapies, and they also work jointly with their colleagues in CAMHS and social services field work teams in order to provide support and advice.