Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services
Welcome to BaNES CAMHS
We support young people with emotional, behavioural and mental health difficulties.
Who are we?
We are a specialist NHS service providing assessment and support for children and young people up to 18 who are experiencing poor mental health.
We work with you and your family to identify your difficulties and provide the right help for you.
How can you get help from CAMHS?
Important information relating to coronavirus (COVID-19)
We are anticipating disruption to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in Bath and NE Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire as a result of the impact of Coronavirus.
Our priority is to minimise disruption as much as possible and to keep you updated and informed of any changes to service delivery.
If you are currently open to CAMHS or making a referral, please be aware of the following:
1. At present, we are offering face to face appointments for urgent and emergency referrals or existing children and young people on our caseload only (if these cannot be done over the phone or digitally).
2. We are conducting all other appointments digitally or over the phone.
3. There could be some temporary changes in how we deliver our services. For example, some of our patients may be seen by video call or over the phone instead of face to face. A clinician will contact you to update you on the situation and to plan for your circumstances. If you have any questions, please contact your care coordinator by phone.
4. You may also need to wait longer than normal for your appointment. We will try to keep you updated about this.
5. Please follow the latest Public Health Guidelines relating to managing suspected or confirmed symptoms of Covid 19. The latest guidance can be found here:
- www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19
- www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-information-for-the-public
It is very important that you do not attend your appointment and instead contact us to reschedule if:
- The national Covid 19 guidelines instruct you to self-isolate (for example because you have travelled to a high-risk area)
- Or if you have experienced any of the symptoms of coronavirus within the last 14 days:
- a cough
- a high temperature
- shortness of breath
6. Please use phone calls as the main way of communicating with us. Please avoid sending us paper referrals or online referrals as these may not be being checked regularly.
7. Please also be aware of other resources that are available to help you:
From Virgin Care:
- They have duty school nurses available at the end of the phone Monday to Friday 9-5pm should you require any support with your school age child. This is available permanently for all parents to access for advice and support. If you would like support please call one of their nurses through our Single Point of access on 0300 247 0090
- They have also set up a confidential telephone drop-in service Monday to Friday 12-2pm. Any young person that would like to call and speak to a qualified nurse on the end of the phone can call 0300 247 0090 Monday to Friday 12-2pm.
- They have our CHAT health text service so you can text a school nurse for advice or support for any health issues or worries. This is confidential and you don’t need to give your name if you don’t want to the number is 07480 635513
Other resources:
- The ‘On Your Mind’ website also signposts children, young people and their families to sources of support for good mental health and wellbeing: www.onyourmind.org.uk/video
Common questions
You’ll hear this abbreviation a lot, so let’s explain it now. CAMHS simply stands for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service.
CAMHS help children and young people up to 18 who are finding it hard to cope with everyday life because of difficult feelings, behaviour or relationships.
Most of the time when we are sad, angry, stressed or worried these feelings pass within a few days, but if they go on for a while and stop us enjoying and coping with life, then CAMHS can help.
Just as we go to the doctors when we are physically ill, sometimes we need extra help with our mental health.
Learn more: Young Mind’s ‘Your Guide to CAMHS’
We provide flexible support to suit your needs.
- Initially we will find out more about the difficulties you are having.
- We will discuss the sort of treatment and support that is likely to help and agree a plan with you.
- Sometimes a few sessions will be enough to get you back on track. Sometimes you may need to meet with us for longer.
- Most importantly you will be fully involved and the plan we agree together will be reviewed regularly to make sure it is still helping.
The CAMHS team is made up of different mental health professionals with specialised skills and expertise. You might see one member of the team on their own or several of them.
We will work with you to agree what support and treatment is best for you.
CAMHS supports children and young people aged 0-18 years. They can work with you in a range of different ways to suit your needs. Some of the ways we can work with you and the therapies we use are explained below:
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
- Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT)
- Family Therapy
- Psychotherapy
- Solution Focussed Practice
As part of our digital offer we are working with our partner, Healios, to provide secure online video assessments and treatment that you can access from your home. This will be offered to you if your clinician feels that it is appropriate.
Young people like you are key to designing and delivering our services. Find out how you can get involved via the link below.
What we help with
I want to learn more about...
Confidentiality
Confidentiality means that what you tell us is kept as private as possible. The only exception to us maintaining confidentiality is if we become concerned about your safety or the safety of others.
We will always try to discuss with you who we need to talk to and what we’re going to say, in a supportive and open way.
Your CAMHS worker can explain this to you in more detail.
Consent
Consent means agreement or permission to do or allow something. CAMHS may ask for your consent to share information with other people (your family or school for example) or consent to accept treatment.
Keeping you safe
You have the right to be safe, no matter who you are or what’s happening to you.
Safeguarding includes:
- keeping you safe from bad treatment, including abuse or neglect
- stopping things which harm your health and development
- making sure you are growing up in a way that lets you get safe and effective care
If you are worried staff are always available and willing to talk with you about any concerns you have.
Young Minds (an external site) provide a helpful guide explaining what happens when young people receiving help from CAMHS reach an age when they need to move on and get the support that they need from adult services.
You can access this guide here: Young Minds: Young people’s guide to transition
Young people have said that there are some words in mental health services which can be confusing.
Use our jargon buster to find out what common words you might hear mean: Jargon buster / glossary
- Equality Statement
We are committed to providing services that are accessible to all. Different people have different needs and we will do whatever we can to ensure these needs are met.
Our CAMHS Services are hosted by:
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