What does my local CAMHS service look like?
CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) is the name for NHS-provided services in England and Wales for children, generally until school-leaving age, who are having difficulties with their emotional or behavioural well-being. The Care Partnership has appointed Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust and Healthwatch to facilitate a second period of extensive co-production with the aim of supporting the completion and implementation of the final THRIVE-based care model.
The Project
NHS Funded Providers of Children and Young People’s Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health services across Lancashire and South Cumbria (The Care Partnership) are working together with children, young people and their families to co-produce a design for future services for children and adolescents aged 0-19, in line with the THRIVE conceptual model.
The THRIVE Framework for system change (Wolpert et al., 2019) is an integrated, person centred and needs-led approach to delivering mental health services for children, young people and their families that was developed by a collaboration of authors from the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families and the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust. THRIVE is a model of care. It is not an acronym.
It conceptualises need in five categories; Thriving, Getting Advice and Signposting, Getting Help, Getting More Help and Getting Risk Support, with the last four categories termed 'quadrants'. Emphasis is placed on prevention and also the promotion of mental health and wellbeing across the whole population.
Services based on the THRIVE Model should be integrated, flexible and person-centred. In Phase 1 of the Redesign, children and young people told us:
- There isn’t enough support for young people from services.
- People in communities as well as professionals need more knowledge about mental health and its impact.
- Waiting times are too long.
- Criteria get in the way of accessing support.
- There needs to be more options for treatment.
- There continues to be a negative stigma about mental health.
In late 2018 a Draft Service Model was submitted for evaluation by an independent panel of stakeholders and approved to move forward into a detailed design for future services. In the current Phase 2, we will build on our work with children and young people to shape how the model of care is developed and how care should be implemented across the region, aiming to move services away from a tiered approach to a THRIVE-based framework working in partnership with other key stakeholders.
Phase 1
Click on a date below to read the feedback and conversation themes from each event.
2nd May 2018, Lancaster (crisis)
9th May 2018, Blackpool (access)
14th May 2018, Leyland (transitions)
23rd May 2018, Preston (digital)
29th May 2018, Blackpool (stigma)
4th June 2018, Barrow (Multiple topics)
6th June 2018, Oswaldtwistle (Thrive)
Read the full THRIVE report produced by Healthwatch - Redesigning mental health services for children and young people.
Phase 2
Our Partners
Working alongside Healthwatch, children and young people with lived experience of emotional health and wellbeing needs, along with their parents and carers, were recruited to undertake a four-month phase of co-production design. Co-production ensures that children and young people have the opportunity to be actively involved in planning and designing services, using their valuable insights and knowledge to make future services better.
Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust also worked concurrently with other related partners to support week-long workshops to capture their knowledge and co-produce a new model of care for services for 0-19 year olds. The outcomes from both groups are communicated daily to the other to create a ‘feedback loop’ between the two participant groups, where the discussions are focussed on developing a THRIVE-based model of care.
The Workshops
Workshops took place between April and June as follows. Click on each to read the report from the workshops.
Week 1 (1st - 5th April 2019): Access to all quadrants (Park Hall, Preston)
Week 5 (27th - 31st May 2019): Quadrant 4 – Getting Risk Support service delivery detail (Park Hall, Preston)
Week 6 and 7 (10 - 28 June 2019): In these weeks meetings were held with specific teams and individuals to consider the implications of HR, training, digital and IT, estates and administration and the support needed.
Audio recordings
Recordings were made at feedback sessions at the end of the workshops in week 2 and week 4. In these sessions, participants provided a summary of the progress during the week for senior leaders from commissioners and providers in Lancashire and South Cumbria. These are available to listen to below:
Listen to the week 2 feedback session:
Listen to the week 3 and 4 combined feedback session: