Children & Adolescent

Our Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) offer help to children and young people who are experiencing emotional, behavioural or mental health difficulties. The services are available to families with children & young people from birth to their 18th birthday. (Some of our counselling services work with people up until the age of 21)

See the services we offer in your borough section

Nationally, CAMHS services operate within a 4 tier system.

Support is offered in a variety of settings such as specialist community clinics, home visits, support in schools, and support to hospital paediatric wards and A&E departments. We also have an adolescent inpatient unit at Goodmayes hospital, known as 'Brookside'.

Community CAMHS Support is offered in a variety of ways, in the main this takes the form of face to face talking therapies such as family therapy or counselling. It may involve psychiatric input or medication. Group work is also offered as well as various specialist assessments in such areas as parent & infant mental health or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). CAMHS services work in partnership with other agencies such as education, social services and primary care (GP’s etc.)

During a child or young person’s development, there may be periods when they or their family’s ability to cope with difficult emotions or behaviour can put extreme pressures on relationships. We want to work with children and young people as early on as possible during these difficulties in order to turn the situation around.