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Request for support

If you have some concerns about your child and discussed these with a professional who works with your child, and together you’ve both decided that your child needs help from CAMHS, the professional will make a request for support to our service – you should be fully informed that this request has been made.

The professional making a request for support will complete a form explaining the reasons why they think it would be helpful for your child to get support from our service. In some cases, we may want to speak to you or the professional when the request is received, to gather some further information and to make sure that our service is the right one for your child.

Once all the information has been gathered, we will make a decision as to whether we will be able to provide useful support for your family. If our service is the right one for your child, we will contact you with an appointment. There can be a wait from the time the request for support is made and the first CAMHS appointment, but it shouldn’t be more than a few weeks. You can check the likely date for your child’s first appointment, by telephoning your local CAMHS service.

If we have decided that we are not the right service to support your family, we will contact you and the requesting professional and explain the reasons why. We will also seek to identify other services available in your local area that might be better suited to provide the help and support you and your child need.

If you become worried about your child’s safety before your first appointment go directly to your doctor or local hospital Emergency Department.