The Intensive Home Treatment team offers a multi-disciplinary approach. They provide intensive community based support and appropriate therapeutic interventions to young people and their family as an alternative to admission to Tier 4 services – specialised services that provide assessment and treatment for children and young people with emotional, behavioural or mental health difficulties.
Access to the Intensive Home Treatment provision will be via the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service care coordinator or lead professional consulting with the Intensive Home Treatment team. This may include a request for an Intensive Home Treatment professional to join the CAMHS worker for assessment if Intensive Home Treatment seems a likely requirement.
The main emphasis of the interventions are around risk management and support for the young person and family with therapeutic approaches being utilised as appropriate and where applicable. Consultation and advice is an integral part of the service with agreed information sharing amongst other professionals within the network of support around the young person.
Whilst aiming to avoid Tier 4 admissions when a young person is admitted the, Intensive Home Treatment will ensure attendance at reviews alongside the lead professional and will support and facilitate early discharge planning.
Intensive support and intervention is offered until the need for intensive input is resolved up to a maximum of eight weeks. The review process will assist in determining the length of intensive input. It is expected that the service will not be offered continuously beyond a maximum period of eight weeks unless exceptional circumstances prevail as agreed by the multi-disciplinary team. For young people exiting Tier 4 facilities, the length of intensive support is dependent on reintegration and level of stability.
Young people presenting with the following may require the Intensive Home Treatment Service – either as a single service or linked with other services or agencies:
- Severe psychotic presentation in collaboration with early intervention in psychosis team
- Emerging personality disorder – repeated presentations at Emergency Department, self-harm and suicidal thoughts with intent
- Severe obsessive compulsive disorder resulting in severe impairment of activity of daily living
- Significant risk to self – suicidal with intent
- Repeated and serious deliberate self-harm
- Severe depression resulting in severe impairment of activity of daily living
- Severe agoraphobia – extreme or irrational fear of open or public places – which impacts upon them accessing support, education etc.
- Eating disorder at risk of admission – this will be in close collaboration with the eating disorder hub.