General CAMHS Referral Guidance
What we do, what we don’t do and what you can do if you are worried about your child
As a specialist service, we expect people to have accessed other services in the community before making a referral to CAMHS. If you have accessed other agencies in your local area and you think more specialist support is needed then please have a look at the general guide below which may be helpful for your child.
Green
Coping/ need for support; These are experiences that most young people will have from time to time.
Nature (type) of Difficulties
- Common worries or difficulties that many young people experience
- Difficulties are often situation specific (e.g., happened after a specific event) or last only for a short time
- Limited impact on daily functioning (e.g., ability to go to or cope at school, play with friends, engage in hobbies or interests)
- Limited impact on physical or emotional wellbeing
- Difficulties in line with typical childhood or adolescence
What To Do
- Self-help resources/ guided self-help (things a young person can look at themselves or together with the support of a parent/ carer or professional). Such as Hampshire CAMHS website.
- Talking to family or friends
- Support from school/ GP
- Support from youth organisations
- A referral to the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service should not be considered as a first response. Consider referring to other agencies in the first instance.
Amber
Need for help; These are challenges that some young people experience and may need some support with.
Nature (type) of Difficulties
- Common worries or difficulties which may be causing more distress than would be expected.
- Level of distress is out of context to the situation/ event/ incident.
- Episodes of worry, sadness, anger or distress may be more frequent or last longer than anticipated or expected.
- Some impact on functioning which has lasted at least a few weeks (e.g., ability to go to or cope at school, play with friends, engage in hobbies or interests).
What To Do
- Follow the Green stage steps AND consider accessing help, advice and support from:
- School nursing team/ ELSA/ pastoral support
- Counselling services/ 1:1/ group support
- Youth organisations
- Emotional health/ mental health specific resources e.g. hampshirecamhs.nhs.uk
- Helplines such as:
Young Minds Parents Helpline: 08088025544
Family Lives Helpline: 08088002222
Red
Needs Specialist Treatment or a Crisis Response; These are difficulties that cause a significant impact and a young person may need specialist support.
Nature (type) of Difficulties
- Difficulties are severe and enduring (difficulties have lasted longer than several weeks).
- Significant distress to the young person and or the family/ network.
- Significant disruption to daily life and functioning (e.g., ability to go to or cope at school, play with friends, engage in hobbies or interests).
- Presenting as a risk to themselves or others.
- Despite accessing and trying support in stages Green and Amber, difficulties persist.
- Signs of physical compromise (becoming physically unwell).
What To Do
- Follow the Green and Amber stages AND:
- See your child’s GP.
- Seek advice from helplines.
- Access the Hampshire CAMHS website crisis support page HERE
- Consider a referral to CAMHS
Services/Resources/Signposting
Did you know that there are many services that help young people with emotional and mental health needs? Most young people find these services help them to recover and to manage their emotions/mental health better.
For a few young people, further specialist support from CAMHS is needed. There are many local services offering a range of support. Below are a few that cover the whole of Hampshire and that we recommend regularly: Services & Resources – Signposting for parents and carers
The NHS has a choice framework which explains what options are open to you when accessing NHS healthcare. More information is available here: (NHS Choice Framework – what choices are available to you in your NHS care – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
If you need advice or support now, you can call 111 (24 hours a day, 7 days a week) or visit https://111.nhs.uk and speak to the NHS Mental Health Triage Service. The NHS 111 Mental Health Triage Service provides advice, support and guidance, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for anyone living in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
The Mental Health Triage Team has a wide range of skills, including on the phone brief psychological support and has access to key services and organisations that can offer mental health support to people in their time of need. The 111 team will also have access to your referral and CAMHS electronic record system so we can be joined up in our approach to support you.
This service can also be also used by GPs and other healthcare professionals, the emergency services, mental health charities and any other organisations that come into contact with people experiencing a mental health crisis.
Referral Process/Referral Form and SPA
If you still feel a CAMHS referral is necessary, please complete the form below;
The preferred referral route is to use the Referral Form. Once received, the referral will be reviewed by our clinicians in the Single Point of Access (SPA). This form is likely to take an hour to complete. Please ensure that you have all the information to hand prior to starting, i.e.: Personal details, Education details, Physical health details, and the young person’s NHS number. The best information is detailed with examples. There is a 3-hour limit for the form to be completed, and it is not possible to save and return to it. We are happy to receive copies of any reports you have that may provide additional and helpful information. You can send these to us via email at: HantsCAMHSSPA@southernhealth.nhs.uk
Please clearly identify them as relating to the child you have submitted a referral for.
Our SPA is a team of mental health professionals who monitor and process all new referrals coming into CAMHS. In SPA, we discuss referrals together to make an informed decision as to whether we accept a referral and offer a CAMHS assessment appointment, or signpost to other services and/or self-help. Decisions are based on the 3 key areas covered above:
- The impact of the symptoms/difficulties
- The duration of the symptoms/difficulties
- The context of the symptoms/difficulties
There is a high demand for our service resulting in long waiting times; we are implementing a number of improvement projects with the aim of reducing waiting times across our service. All referrals will be initially risk assessed within 24 hours (during working hours). We appreciate how difficult it can be waiting to access our services and the challenges families experience and thank you for your ongoing patience.
Autism Assessment
If you are interested in an Autism Assessment for a young person, assessments for Hampshire and Isle of Wight are now provided by The Owl Centre. Information about the service, including how to refer, can be found here: https://www.theowl.org/hampshire-and-iow/
Referrals can be made directly by health, education or social care professionals. If you are a parent please ask your GP or the child’s school to refer.
If you have concerns that your child is experiencing additional mental health needs which you feel require further intervention, please look on our website for support, and discuss with your child’s school or GP to determine if a referral to CAMHS is required.
Eating Disorder Service
When a young person is referred to the Hampshire Eating Disorder Service for consideration of an ARFID assessment, it is essential that the referral is accompanied by a three-day food diary.
This information will help the team to determine if the young person is at risk of having a clinically significant nutritional deficiency and will support with appropriate prioritisation of the referral.
The 3-day-food-diary can be downloaded HERE. Please note that referrals will not be accepted into the service without a food diary.
What happens next?
If we think we can help you, we will judge how quickly you need to be seen for your assessment. We may also call you if we need further information.
When receiving care from the Trust we may have to keep certain information about you. It’s your right to know what we do with it, how we store it and how you can access it. You can find out more about what information we store on this page.
You will then either be invited to a CAMHS assessment appointment or if we think another service is better able to help, we will write you a letter giving you details of this service and/or recommendations of what else may help.
If you would like to discuss whether to make a referral, then you can email us on HantsCAMHSSPA@southernhealth.nhs.uk and request a consultation or call our SPA team on 02382 317912, option 1 between 9am and 1:30pm.
Please note, we might not be able to get back to you on the same day.
