CAMHS Youth Team

The CAMHS Youth Team is an inclusive and empowering youth service that supports the wellbeing of young people. 

Our vision

To support young people through a young person led and holistic approach, who are actively engaging with CAMHS or The Wellbeing in Schools Team (WEST). Our service will also support young people to transition successfully out of CAMHS whether this be to adult mental health services or back to the care of the GP, incorporating the core values and beliefs of youth work.

Who we are

The team is made up of professionally qualified youth workers who are experts in supporting a young person’s personal, social and educational development. Youth Workers support the young person to develop their voice, influence and place in society, and acquire skills and competencies to realise their full potential.

The youth workers in the team are Will Edwards, Laura Kingscott, Temitola Arasi, Nick Griffiths, Samuel Awoyale and Kirsty Dyas. Between us we have a combined 60+ years’ worth of experience in youth work. The youth team also consists of a senior mental health practitioner Kerry Hughes.

Selfie photos from members of the CAMHS Youth Team

Our promise to you

  • We will be led by you at all times
  • We will treat you with respect
  • We will endeavour to walk alongside you on your journey
  • We will support you in developing skills and making choices which are meaningful to you.
  • We will promote your voice and act where needed as an advocate
  • We will respect and value differences
  • You can choose whether to access the youth team

Our aims

  • To enable you to develop practical life skills, including managing money, rent, healthy living, moving towards independence
  • To assist in making informed decisions and choices about your life
  • To help you develop skills, knowledge and experiences to continue enriching your life
  • Championing you to maintain and build healthy meaningful relationships in your community
  • To support you if required to attend appointments.
  • To advocate for you so that you can experience an improved transition out of CAMHS.

How we will do this

Youth workers will take a holistic approach to supporting you and can look at any aspect of life that is important to you. This will be done via group support, signposting to voluntary and community groups, 1:1 sessions, drop ins and consultations.

How to access the service

You can access the CAMHS Youth Team from:

  • 16 years+ if open to Child and Adolescent Mental health Services or the Wellbeing in Schools Team (WEST) across Herefordshire and Worcestershire.
  • 14 years+ if you have a formal diagnosis of Autism / ADHD and are open to Child and Adolescent Mental health Service or the Wellbeing in Schools Team (WEST) across Herefordshire and Worcestershire

To access the service you will need to complete a short form providing your contact information and giving the team consent to contact you. Once we have received this a youth worker will be in touch to arrange an introductory session with you.

More information on our screening form is available in the drop down box below.

CAMHS Youth Team Screening Questionnaire

To get in contact with the CAMHS Youth Team, please complete our digital screening questionnaire: 

Alternatively, you can download, complete and send the screening questionnaire below to whcnhs.camhsyouth@nhs.net.

If you need this form in an alternative format or support with its completion, please contact whcnhs.camhsyouth@nhs.net.

Confidentiality

Confidentiality is very important to CAMHS - all the information given in CAMHS appointments is confidential. Usually only the person who made the referral and the GP will know about the appointments.

The team will only share information about young people when we feel it is absolutely necessary, and the clinicians will always explain what information is being shared and why.

Sometimes it can be helpful to share information, for example with schools or other health staff.

The CAMHS clinician will discuss the information to be shared and ask children, young people and their families/carers for consent to share. Sometimes young people do not want to share their information with their parents/carers. This can be identified in the referral. The CAMHS clinician will discuss this with the young person to understand more about their circumstances and assess whether they are competent to make that decision for themselves.

If there are concerns that a child or young person may be at risk of harm, CAMHS will always share this information with the relevant agencies, though we would hope to inform the child or young person and their family/carers about the referral and the reasons for this.

If you are unsure about anything, please ask the team.

Help and resources

If you are a child or young people please visit the our information section to find out more about feelings and emotions.

Give feedback on our services

We are always looking for feedback on our services and we would love to hear from you. You can complete the quick CAMHS feedback survey here.