What is SPA?

The Single Point of Access (SPA) is a team of clinicians who review your emotional and mental health concerns and help establish the best way to support you.

If you are not sure what help is needed you can call the team and speak to someone on 0800 011 3474, or have the team view your concerns by submitting the SPA Request for Support form here (Do not copy and paste text into form from another Word document as this may cause the form to fail to submit): 

• Kent and Medway Single Point of Access (SPA) Request for Support Form

SPA work with a variety of organisations that offer emotional well being and mental health support and can also access different types of support eg: online advice and guidance. Their function is to work out which service or type of support will best meet your individual needs and to work with you to access this. 

Decisions on where next?

Each referral form will be considered to identify which form of service is best placed to meet the individual needs of the child or young person.

These decisions may be made by clinicians reviewing the available information on this referral form.  Additionally, the decision may also involve the SPA clinician making contact with the child/young person/family or carer to gain further relevant information.

In the first instance the Kent Children and Young People's Mental Health Service will consider  an early intervention such as psycho-education, counselling, mentoring or other support. 

Kent CYPMHS may recommend a range of digital or online resources.  Websites and Apps maybe accessed online.  Further information regarding these can be found on the Kent CYPMHS web resource.

Not all services are provided from within Kent Children and Young People's Mental Health Service as we work in partnership with a range of locally provided resources within Kent.  These provide a range of diverse experiences using skilled counsellors and therapists throughout the county.

On completion of the triage by the SPA, a letter with the relevant information will be sent to the young person or child and family, with a copy being sent to the GP and referrer.

Adults - Adult services are not provided by NELFT

For residents of Kent and Medway who are not currently a patient with KMPT (sometimes referred to as Kent and Medway secondary care mental health services), call the free 24 hour helpline on 0800 783 9111 if you need urgent mental health support, advice and guidance.

Or call 0800 107 0160 to speak with someone from the Release the Pressure team if you’re feeling stressed. You can also text "Kent" to 85258 for 24 hour mental health crisis support via text from trained volunteers.

To request support (Do not copy and paste text into form from another Word document as this may cause the form to fail to submit):

• Complete the SPA request for support form

* Please note, this referral form is not a direct referral into a service, it is a referral to the SPA triage team to help establish the best course of action.

*When the form has successfully submitted you will see a pop up that says ‘Referral has been submitted’. On submission you will be offered the option of downloading a copy of the form for your records

Request for Support to Kent and Medway Children and Young People's Single Point of Access cannot be made without the agreement of the parent/carer and/or young person (subject to competence). Confidentiality is respected in accordance with the Data Protection Act. We also have a duty to refer any child who may be in need of protection to Social Services.

Read more about our privacy policy.