• Clinical Team Manager: Tracy Oliver-Browne
• Deputy Team Manager: Stephanie Jaques

Clinical Team and Deputy Team Managers role:

The managers support the team by ensuring that processes are in place to enable the smooth running of the service and that standards of care are adhered to.

In addition, they are also responsible for processing referrals and prioritising resources according to need, as well as team and service development, and provide specialist neurodevelopmental knowledge to strategic multi-agency frameworks.

The managers have a strong clinical background which ensures that this knowledge fuels all decision making.

Consultants role within the team:

Consultant Child Psychiatrists working in our team are medical doctors who will have a generic medical training and then completed further specialised training in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry over a period of 6 years.

Their role is to provide:

1.  Developmental assessments whereby the physical health, mental health and developmental milestones of a child/ young person are incorporated to provide a comprehensive and integrated assessment and management.

2. Ongoing medical and therapeutic care for children with neurodevelopmental conditions.

3. Liaison to other services and agencies like school, social care and paediatric services.

You may also see a Trainee Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist; these members of our team will have completed their medical training and be working towards subspecialising in Psychiatry and are closely supervised by a Consultant Child and Adolescents Psychiatrist.

Psychologists role within the team:

Clinical Psychologists in our service provide psychological assessments, formulations, and individual, family, or group interventions to young people with neurodevelopmental difficulties (Autism, ADHD, Tic disorders) and associated mental health difficulties or challenging behaviour.

They are often involved in the team’s neurodevelopmental assessments (assessments of Autism and ADHD) and may also provide cognitive assessments (assessments of young people’s overall intellectual functioning and/or cognitive profile).

They work closely with their colleagues in the multi-disciplinary team to ensure that young people receive effective support. They also provide training and supervision.

Speech and Language Therapists role within the team:

Language and communication is one of the biggest priorities for people with Autism. “SLT’s play a key role in differential diagnosis and developing language” (RCSLT; 2019, NICE guidelines; 2019).

Within the team, SLT’s use their expertise in speech, language, and social communication, playing a key role in the assessment process.

They may also undertake language assessments to screen receptive (understanding) and expressive language (use of words/ sentences/ narratives), in order to offer advice to others on how best to communicate with a young person, referring on to the local speech and language therapy team for more detailed assessment and management if required.

Social Workers role within the team are to provide:

• Children and families social work expertise into the CAMHS tier 3 teams
• Carry an agreed limited caseload of NDC patients who also have specific identified social care needs and might otherwise have to go to social care in addition to the NDC pathway
• Interface with locality social care teams to optimise care coordination for children known to both agencies
• Provide specialist advice and guidance for parents, carers and additional professionals
• As part of the Multi-disciplinary team we are involved in the assessment and diagnosis of neuro developmental conditions

Senior Mental Health Practitioners role within the team:

These clinicians can be mental health nurses, occupational therapists or social workers.

Their role includes care co-ordination (liaising between different agencies to support a young person or family), providing specialist interventions for young people or parents and being part of the assessment team.

Non-Medical Prescribers role within the team:

Non-Medical Prescribers are mostly responsible for running ADHD clinics to review and respond to children taking stimulant medication.

It is important that children tolerate medication well and remain healthy while taking it.

Prescribers place importance on monitoring children’s physical health during these reviews. They also see other children with Autism who take mental health medication and support the wider team and families with medication queries.

Outreach worker role within the team:

Our outreach worker supports young people who have received a diagnosis through the teams’ assessments process.

They are supported to be able to access things they used to enjoy doing as well as trying to ensure that they feel safe to go to their appointments at clinics.

Admin’s role within the team:

The admin team is the front door to our service, screening all calls and receiving children and young people and their families / carers to the building.

Often underestimated, the admin team plays a crucial role in ensuring that the different parts of the process work appropriately, so that the journey is seamless.

Their role includes tasks as diverse as ensuring that the correct information is sent out to patients / other professionals at the right time, there is co-ordination of appointments between clinicians, send appointment letters / review and diagnostic reports, book rooms, update systems, etc, etc.