CAMHS

[thomastank]

Hello, lots of people seem to be mentioning CAMHS. . . .My son was diagnosed last year aged four with HFA and we had support from Portage. After he started school we were told everything was handed over to school but I wonder if I am missing out on CAMHS, I've never heard of them before joining here. . . .We don't get any support apart from school.

[Karen A]

Hi.CAMHS stands for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service.Basically mental health service [used to be could psychiatric service ] for children,adolescents and their families.

The support provided across the country for children and teenagers with ASD is very patchy.Some CAMHS are more aware than others.

 

CAMHS are likely to be involved more where there are other difficulties which often accompany ASD such as depression,anxiety or behaviour difficulties.Some CAMHS psychiatrists are also involved in diagnosis for older children and teenagers who were not picked up by Child Development Teams.

We have a lot of support because it was thought for a long time that Ben had something like Attachment Disorder.The presentation of Attachment disorder can be very similar to ASD.Now even though Ben has been found to have ASD the professionals are continuing to support us.

If your child has difficulties with anxiety,depression,challenging behaviour,self-harm,over activity, sleep difficulties or soiling those are all things that CAMHS may be able to offer support for.

Your GP can refer you to CAMHS if you feel it might be helpful.School do not need to be involved at all.

The amount that CAMHS are involved in school also varies a lot.Although CAMHS work with OH,myself and Ben CAMHS input is not included in Ben's Statement.Our psychotherapist has attended reviews and meetings to support us though.

Karen.

[Karen A]

Hi again.If you follow the link and find ''What are Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services'' there is a useful leaflet on PDF.Karen.

http://www.youngminds.org.uk/publications/...y-subject/camhs

[oxgirl]

My lad is 15 and we've only recently had anything to do with CAMHS. It was a referral to them made by the school for a specific problem they were having with him and he was assessed last week for some therapy to deal with this specific issue. As I say, up until then, we'd had nothing to do with them either.

 

~ Mel ~

[chris54]

It can depend on were you live, Where we lived when my son was diagnosed the team that did the diagnosed was just called by the name of the building they operated from. Only if your child had more complex needs would they be referred to the children's mental heath unit which was attached to the district hospital.

I think it is very much the same here.

 

 

I would say that we don't get any support other that education but at the moment at least I don't know what support if any we need.

 

 

[jordansmum33ok]

hi im my area my son dx asd 12 was declined camhs even though he self harms and has sleep problems

let alone his school problems.. atm they are all just passing him onto another

we just would lke him to get some help

[Karen A]

hi im my area my son dx asd 12 was declined camhs even though he self harms and has sleep problems

let alone his school problems.. atm they are all just passing him onto another

we just would lke him to get some help

 

Hi.Did they say on what basis they declined ? Karen.