On Thursday the 25th of April, Maudsley Learning and the Children & Young People’s Health Partnership (CYPHP) hosted a local learning and networking event sponsored by Health Education England.
The event was well attended by over 90 children and young people (CYP) professionals from a range of organisations (including Lambeth CAMHS, Lambeth CCG, Lambeth Early Help, CUES-Ed, Lambeth Youth Council, Evelina London Children’s Hospital, and third sector organisations such as Kooth), and professional groups (including Psychiatrists, Psychologists, Psychotherapists, GPs, nurses, play specialists, teachers, youth workers, and social workers).
The aims of the day included:
- Sharing what is currently happening in Lambeth by stakeholders involved in CYP mental health
- Improving inter-professional and multi-disciplinary collaboration in Lambeth CYP mental health
- Increasing the knowledge of services, organisations, and initiatives aiming to improve mental health and emotional wellbeing for CYP
The day started with information on local services that provide age-appropriate integrated care for CYP. This included presentations from:
Dr Anto Ingrassia, CYPHP Clinical Lead and Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist.
Anto provided an engaging presentation about how the CYPHP model of care is unique in proactively working with children about their health needs, and by taking into account the various biopsychosocial factors that influence their health and wellbeing. An example of this is the CYPHP Health Check screening tool, which is available to all families of children with specific ongoing conditions, namely asthma, eczema, constipation, and epilepsy.
The results from the tool enables the CYPHP Health Team and other health professionals to address the holistic needs of the child by providing integrated physical and mental health care for the child and their family.
Dr Stephanie Lamb, CYPHP Primary Care and Young People’s Health Lead, and General Practitioner in Lambeth.
Steph’s presentation was about the importance of age-appropriate services, and used the good practice example of the Well Centre, which she co-founded with the Youth Charity - Redthread.
The Well Centre offers young people aged 13 to 20 years, a one stop approach to discuss health concerns or worries in a safe and confidential space. It is staffed by youth workers, a mental health professional, and GPs.
Luke Norbury, Team Manager of the Lambeth Early Help Service.
Luke’s presentation included information about the shape and set up of the Early Help Service. The service aims to offer early intervention and support to families through a locality based approach. It also promotes access and integration of services across education, social care, and health.
Jane Anderson, Consultant Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist, Lambeth CAMHS.
Jane explained about the various referral routes and services that Lambeth CAMHS, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust provide for children, young people, and their families who are in need of a specialist mental health intervention.
This was followed by speakers who presented on local offers for CYP. This included presentations from:
Tom Cunningham, Young Lambeth Cooperative
Tom spoke about his experience of the power of youth engagement, and the organisation’s mission to empower young people to experience a range of opportunities to help them realise their full potential. One such example includes the Lambeth Youth Council.
Morwenna James, from Xenzone
Morwenna introduced their new locally launched digital mental health support service called Kooth. Kooth gives children and young people easy access to an online community of peers and a team of experienced counsellors, while providing complete anonymity and avoiding typical barriers to support such as waiting lists, thresholds, and cost.
During the lunch break, market stalls offered another opportunity to find out more about local services and support networks. Stalls represented a variety of organisations including:
- CYPHP
- Maudsley Learning
- Maudsley Simulation
- Brook
- CUES-Ed
- Kooth
- Time to Shine Kids
- Lambeth Early Action Partnership
- Parent and Infant Relationship Service
- CYP HavensCYP Havens
After lunch, four engaging workshops were offered. These included:
- Holistic Care: mental health in context by Stephanie Mayo, CYPHP CAMHS Clinical Specialist
- Youth Violence: a holistic approach to support by Jane Anderson, Consultant Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist
- Empowering Parents, Empowering Communities by Jo Nicoll, EPEC Programme UK Hub Lead, SLaM
- DISCOVER: a schools-based programme for 16-18s by Irene Sclare, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, SLaM
The event proved a great success. Pasquale Brammer, the Head of Children’s Commissioning at Lambeth CCG, said:
“Thanks so much for organising the event, it was brilliant and made me as a commissioner really proud and pleased with the provision in Lambeth! It is great to see all different elements of a work stream or pathway come together and know what the other is doing, so this was great today. The enthusiasm came across from everyone and showed that all of the work links together well. So thank you.”
CYPHP staff were delighted to be involved in the day, and hope that our contributions will assist practitioners in Lambeth towards improving the mental health support for children and young people.
If you would like to find out more about Maudsley Learning, including their mission of delivering high quality mental health education and training for staff to improve health for all, you can visit their website or follow them on Twitter @MaudsleyLearn
To see more of the latest news from CYPHP, please click here.