Child and Adolescent Mental Health – Time for Change Richard Shircore 17 th Feb 2015
Briefing to PHAST Associates with regard to Young Peoples’ mental health issues and of efforts by PHAST members to: review, reform and enhance current mental health understanding and practice
Focus Areas - CAMHS Concern regarding current Child Mental Health: Its place in health and social care Professional differences Complexity of agency involvement Provision/delivery Ethics – who is the beneficiary/what is the outcome?
Select Committee Report – House of Commons: A sample of concerns: Commissioners in a “fog” over what should be commissioned Lack of information for parents regarding services Weak early intervention Providers reporting funding cuts leading to greater waiting times Minor conditions becoming entrenched because of treatment delays See: committee/news/ camhs-report-substantive/ committee/news/ camhs-report-substantive/
A multiplicity of agencies The following are some of the agencies involved in Child and Adolescent Mental Health NHS – Public Health, Community, Primary and Tertiary Care Youth Offending Educational Welfare Social Work Police Teachers Consequence? The needs of the child get lost.
Assessment and Screening pt 1 Proposal – An early stage assessment/screening Key areas: 1.Child Health History – Conception to current age. - medical conditions can impact on ability to manage schools and other environments 2. Education History - insight into learning styles/stress points 3. Family History – house moves, bereavement/loss 4. Environment – domestic and local. Esp. coercive factors
Assessment and Screening pt2 5. Child Preferences – it is important to know what a child chooses for themselves. Important to know what they are good at. 6. Child Developmental State: memory, symbolic recognition, sequential ordering, motor capacity, spatial ordering, attention control, language (verbal and non-verbal.
Process Issues The parents/carers should be involved as much as possible along with the child/adolescent. They should be seen and treated as part of the solution rather than that of being the problem
The Outcome from Assessment & Screening The process outlined is not designed to be definitive. It is designed to: 1Identify what immediate actions family and child can/may wish to take to improve the situation 2Flag up areas for more specialist assessment and review 3Create a common platform of understanding to allow professionals/agencies/parents to collaborate effectively.
Wish to Know More? For more information contact: Richard Shircore M.Sc. Phast Associate Tel: Mob: