Children and Young People

We see Children and Young People with emotional and mental health needs. We sometimes find they are struggling with relationships at home, or with peers or teachers. They may experience lack of confidence, low self-esteem, stress or anxiety, which impacts upon life (e.g. school work, or socialising).

It is OK to feel sad, worried or angry, or sometimes just like you don't fit in. Other people may have talked to you about this already to try and help. If these feelings are not going away or are getting worse and stopping you from doing the things you used to enjoy, we would like to help you. When referred to our services, you will meet with someone who wants to talk with you, and try out things that might help. We will work with you, and often your family, to understand and help you with your problems. We want you to feel supported and safe when you come to see us.

CAMHS Early Help (Trailblazer and CWP teams) have been developing a number of videos for parents, teens and school staff on a range of mental health and wellbeing topics. Link to the YouTube channel is below and we are also adding new videos regularly.

Children & Young People's Wellbeing Service Videos

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: CAMHS is a service for all

CAMHS is a service for all and we are keen to ensure that every Child or Young person referred to our teams feels able to access services and engage in treatment. We recognise that there may be barriers which have historically stopped young people from reaching out or engaging with services (e.g. protected characteristics such as race, ethnicity and culture; gender; sexuality; age; and ability).

Please do talk to your health professional about factors you feel are important for us to know (no topic is off bounds) or whether we need to adapt treatment to support you. This could be anything from translation services, clinician's awareness of issues faced by the LGBTQIA+ community, understanding of cultural factors or adaptation of therapy materials.
We recognise it can be hard for young people to talk about sensitive topics. Whilst we are not perfect, we are making steps to ensure we continually improve to ensure CAMHS services are inclusive for all.

We aim to provide a safe space for young people to talk. If you don't feel you can talk to your health professional, for any reason, then you can contact the Team Manager or join one of the participation groups (to enquire please email dina.bokrezion@swlstg.nhs.uk). Please help us shape the future of our services!

SWLSTG has also made a commitment to actively moving towards anti-racism and we are keen to ensure this culture is embedded into the fabric of CAMHS. If you have any feedback please contact antiracism@swlstg.nhs.uk.

Young People's Experiences with CAMHS

Please click on the below buttons to hear from young people and their experiences with CAMHS:

Related Resources

Papyrus

Suicide prevention support for young people

Living with ADHD

This website providing information for family and young people living with ADHD (Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder)

On My Mind

On My Mind is a new website which aims empower young people to make informed choices about the mental health support they want

7 ways to support

This leaflet provides information about how to support children and young people who are worried

The Mix

General information and support about a range of topics for young people up to the age of 25

ThinkUKnow

Sex and relationship support

FREED Network Booklet

Booklet for Young People on Emerging Adulthood was designed in collaboration with Young People and staff from the FREED Network

Self Care Plan

This resource walks young people through a series of steps, helping them create a detailed self-care plan that works for them

RU OK?

Self-help for teenagers developed by professionals

Coping with Uncertainty

This is a brief guide for young people coping with uncertainty

Who do we offer help to?

We provide a variety of mental health services to Children and Young people, treating a range of conditions and needs to ensure we offer the right support at the right time.

Children and young people

Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMHS) help children and young people who are experiencing mental health needs. Find out how CAMHS works with children and young people in your area.

Parents & Carers

Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMHS) help children and young people who are experiencing mental health issues, find out how CAMHS works with children and young people in your area.

Professionals

All professionals involved with children and young people can make a referral to CAMHS, find out more.

Schools

All professionals involved with children and young people can make a referral to CAMHS, find out more.

We offer a number of effective therapies based on the Child/ Young Person's needs and as agreed with the family through care planning

We aim to provide great care to every Child and Young Person and to support to their parent/carers and family. We work with children from the age of 5 years up to their 18^th birthday. For Young People who require mental health support beyond the age of 18 we have transition workers to support as they move across to the most appropriate adult services.

Our job is to promote emotional wellbeing and provide treatment to Children and Young People with a range of mental health needs. By putting patient experience at the heart of everything we do, we can ensure that we are providing the very best quality services, advice, information and support to those people who need it, when they need it. Across CAMHS we work alongside our service users to develop services. We have service user groups and events and aim to include young people on interview panels and in service planning (contact dina.bokrezion@swlstg.nhs.uk if you would like to join our Service User groups).

The CAMHS community teams offer a range of assessments and treatments for Children and Young People presenting with enduring and moderate to severe mental health needs which impact significantly on daily functioning. Our community CAMHS teams are made up of a range of mental health professionals including Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists, Clinical and Counselling Psychologists, Family Therapists, Clinical Nurse Specialists and Child and Adolescent Psychotherapists.

https://www.swlstg.nhs.uk/our-services/our-key-locations/hospital/springfield-university-hospital

Services we offer

CAMHS offer a range of interventions and psychological therapies that research indicates can be effective in treating common mental health needs. These include:

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) is a type of talking therapy used to help you understand how you think about things and to change any behaviours that aren't helping you. It is normally very practical, and your therapist may ask you to put into practice what you discuss between your sessions.
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) is similar to CBT in that it is about helping you understand your feelings and change unhelpful behaviour, but it also helps you learn to accept yourself. DBT is usually a longer treatment than CBT and often involves working with groups. The focus is to identify unhelpful behaviours, understand why you might have developed them, and learn new coping strategies that are more helpful in the long term.
Family therapy is one of the treatment options in CAMHS which involves your family coming to sessions in CAMHS with you. During family therapy sessions everyone works together to find ways for the whole family to do things differently, and there is an emphasis on drawing on the family's strengths and the different perspectives of family members

Interpersonal Therapy for Adolescents (IPT-A) is a 12 session therapy model focussing on helping you address problems in your relationships with important people in your life. The theory behind IPT is that having poor relationships in your life can cause you to feel depressed, and that feeling depressed can also impact upon your relationships! Working on your symptoms of depression and improving your relationships will therefore improve how you feel. In IPT-A, working together with your therapist you will identify when your depression began and the link to relationships (e.g. transitions, bereavement, interpersonal difficulties or conflict) and create improvements.
Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy is a treatment that focuses on a child's emotional responses and behaviour whilst naming feelings and carefully attending to what a young person says. This therapeutic process can help children and young people who are feeling troubled by anxiety or other complex feelings such as aggression, sadness, anxiety and depression.
Trauma focused interventions for young people who have experienced one or more traumatic events, including Trauma Focused CBT, Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) or more specialist trauma approaches for Children and Young people who have experienced developmental trauma.

We also offer consultation and training to other professionals or services in some of our Boroughs in South West London including teams who require specialist mental health input, such as Social Care teams or Youth Offending Services.

The types of difficulties that CAMHS can help with includes:

Depression
Eating Disorders
Anxiety Disorders
Obsessions and compulsions
Diagnosis of Neurodevelopmental conditions such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) or Austism Spectrum Disorder or Condition (ASD/ASC)
Self-harm and Suicidal Ideation
Post Taumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) following exposure to traumatic events

CAMHS can also diagnose and treat serious mental health problems such as:

Bipolar disorder
Psychosis

We have community services in five locations across south west London. They provide assessment and treatment for a range of common problems. There is one in each of the five boroughs covered by the Trust.

Sutton
Merton
Wandsworth
Kingston
Richmond

There are also six specialist community teams, which cover all the boroughs:

Neuro-developmental Assessment Service

This service offers assessment where the Single Point of Access or local team have identified a clear need for assessment of possible ASD/ADHD. The comprehensive assessment leads to a diagnostic report with care plan and/or recommendations.

Complex Learning Disabilities Service

This is a dedicated service offered to Wandsworth patients with a learning disability. This team provides a range of services for children and young people up to 18 and their families and/or carers experiencing severe and enduring mental health difficulties. The team has expanded and is now able to offer input into Sutton and Merton, and more recently assessment and consultation into Kingston and Richmond. Please contact your local team for more information on what is available.

Eating Disorder Service

The EDS is an 'end to end' service for the treatment of Eating Disorders based at Springfield Hospital.

The service has strong links with local children's services at St George's Hospital. Local teams manage eating problems that are secondary or related to other disorders, such as depression.

Emergency Care Service

The CAMHS Emergency Care Service (CECS) is a team of specialist nurses who provide assessment and management plans for young people up to age 18 who come to accident and emergency and children's wards having a mental health crisis.

The CECS also provide urgent 7 day follow ups for young people who are registered with a GP in one of the Trust's five boroughs and who have been seen at local and non-local hospitals.

Outreach team

This team provides intensive intervention and risk management support for Children and Young People who are at risk of Tier 4 (inpatient) admission across the five boroughs.

Deaf CAMHS

We provide an inpatient and community CAMHS services for Deaf Children and Young People (or hearing Children of Deaf Adults) in London, Kent and Cambridge.

Our Community Services

Springfield University Hospital is in Tooting and has been the primary location for mental health services in South West London for over 175 years.

As well as being the Trust Headquarters, we provide inpatient and community services to the residents of the five London boroughs we service as well as some National Specialist Services

Springfield University Hospital
61 Glenburnie Road
Tooting
London
SW17 7DJ

Telephone: 0203 513 5000

Email: ContactCentreSPH@swlstg.nhs.uk

About Springfield University Hospital

Springfield Directory

Map

We also have 3 in-patient units based at the Springfield University Hospital:

Aquarius

Aquarius Ward is a 12 bed mixed gendered inpatient service for young people aged 12-18 experiencing a mental health crisis, requiring short term crisis intervention in hospital.

Building 5 (Newton Building)
Entrance 8
Springfield University Hospital
Glenburnie Road
London
SW17 7DJ

Telephone: 020 3513 5000
Email: aquariusstaff@swlstg.nhs.uk

Our opening hours (24 hours)

Corner House - National Deaf CAMHS

Corner House is a six-bed national specialist assessment and treatment unit for Deaf Children and Young People up to their 18th birthday, with severe complex emotional and psychological problems.

Springfield University Hospital
The Park, Building 5
61 Glenburnie Road
Tooting
London
SW17 7DJ

Telephone: 020 3513 5000
Email: ndcamhs@swlstg.nhs.uk

Our opening hours (24 hours)

Wisteria

Wisteria ward is a 12-bed unit for young people between the ages of 11 and 18 with severe Eating Disorders and weight loss related to mental health problems. Wisteria is currently being renovated and will resume normal capacity in May 2022.

Newton Building

Entrance 7
Springfield University Hospital
Glenburnie Road
London
SW17 7DJ

Telephone: 020 3513 5000
Email: admin.wisteria@swlstg.nhs.uk

Our opening hours (24 hours)

Join our Trust

Share your views with TfL on a new Springfield bus route

Resources