CAMHS experiences ?
 

soo to cut a long story short my doctor made a refferal to them, they said no, then out of the blue i get a phone call tellng me I have an appointment in two weeks ! my doc must have done some serious pleading, i've gone from not even on their list to write at the top ! so I am happy, but also now I'm a bit nervous I have had a school counselor before but I don't know what it'll be like .... anyone had any experience with them what do you do in hte first session ?

It depends who you see, you may see a psychologist, a psychiatrist, a councellor, an occupational therapist or a social worker. I would imagine you will see a psychologist or a psychiatrist first, as they will assess your needs. The first session is more of a getting to know you, and finding out what you need and want from them.

There is nothing to be nervous about, camhs teams are imo very good, so try to make the most of it, and take what you can from them :)

Good Luck,, be honest and open and you will get more from it.

xx

in my first session i saw a psychologist and was asked lots of questions and then he decided what i needed.
sorry that was really brief and useless because i was so scared i cant remember it very well cuz i was liek shitting myself lol, but it wasnt any where near as bad as i though it would be so try not to be scared and try to be as honest as you can with them =]
good luck =]

The first session will be about sorting out the best care package for you, so they'll want to talk to you about loads of stuff (prepare yourself for hundreds of questions :S) so they can work out what will be the right approach for you.
During mine there were two psychologists and while i spoke to one, the other spoke to my mum and then they spoke together and decided to refer me for DBT, CBT and to the psychiatrist for meds.
The only advice i can give you is to be honest with them and to stay calm because at times it can be quite an uncomfortable situation because it gets very personal but remember that they are trying to fid out how to help you.
I hope it goes well and the best of luck. I'm here if you want to talk.
xxx

thanks for the replies :) eugh it will be really awkward if they talk to my mum, she does know about my "issues" via a note and a phone conversation with my form tutor, but she's only ever mentioned anxiety which is like the least of my troubles, so that would be weird..but oh well I shall mentally prepare :) thanks

People have varying experiences of camhs. I have been refered 2-3 times now.
The general protocall si that you will be given an appointment to have an initial assessment. In this assessment they are going to be asking alot of questions, mainly to do with your childhood so make sure you know a bit about that (when you first spoke, if you had alot of nurser friends, things like that). The questions will follow you up to present day so that they can get a good feel of how things have gotten to the state they are now, and what areas of you life so far has caused you problems. So be honest, it will help this go a lot smoother, even if it is something difficult. They are used to it, so dont be affraid to say what you think, and dont not say something because you are worried how they might see it, it may be the key to getting the right help. They can be quite personal questions, so if you do get upset, thats okay (i think i cried at 2 of these meetings, but then again i am a wuss).
After that they will take their findings and write a report. The report will be copied to your GP and they will then discuss the meeting with the camhs team who consist of a variety of professionals mentioned by other users in this thread.
As a team, with their different inputs, they will decide that will be helpful to you, be it CBT with a psychiatrist or some occupational therapy. This information will also be passed back onto your doctor and yourself.
Once they have decided the best course of action they will let you know what happens next.
Good luck, and dont be worried.
Come find me any time if you want to talk about it.

thanks that was really helpful I'll let you guys know how it goes

CAMHS is the child and adolecent mental health something...lol in England :)

Um, well I had a pretty bad experience.
I was sent there and just thrown in with a counsellor who INSISTED my mum stayed in the room. She also insisted my mum knew everything every 2 weeks that was going on.
I left after 4 weeks because she just got on my wick and made out I was being an idiot etc.
They never really dealt with me properley and just passed me off as "another stupid teen" and whenever I talked about self harm she raised one eyebrow. I ended up making things up just to get her to leave me alone. She also tried to put it in my head that I was being bullied which, at the time, I wasn't, but even if I was I wasn't going to say anything because she told EVERYTHING to me mum..
Um, but yeah I hope you have a better experience...
sorry to bring the thread down.

I know it sounds silly but i'm so so jealous of you people who got good things out of it, because if they had given a care, maybe i'd be in a better position now, rather than this. I now cannot see CAMHS as they drop you the day of your 16th birthday in this place.
Ahhh sorry little rant...

No i had some bad experiences with them too.
Not as bad as that, but the last one was the better one so it has sort of shaped my perceptions of it.

CAMHS - Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services

I was refered to them as an emergancy when I was 16 after I'd started hallucinating. I had an assessment session with a psychiatrist and a social worker. My mum and 2 sisters were there as well. That was when I started seeing my psychiatrist, he was really nice and I do miss him helping me.

Do let us know how it goes, take care xx

Just so you know, family might not be there for any future appointments. Family therapy for example obviously needs their attendance but usually they arent there.
The initial assessment needs family input so that they can give the situation from a different point of view, and incase they can remember things you cant - so dont worry.

CAMHS were great to me, helpful, friendly, warm and generally good with dealing with my insanity. I saw a psychiatrist, a therapist and a psychologist there. I miss them (I'm in the rubbish adult services now) and would pay to have them back!

there good.. i just dont really like it coz my mum sits in there with me..
other than that its ok
and yeah, hundreds of qus to start with!!

You should outright say "I don't want my Mum in here". That's what I do. My Mum gets angry, but she can go to hell lol.

hmm alrite yeh i got a lot of form to fill out today one for me and one for my mum...which should be interesting, I will ask her to leave if she trieds to stay in after the first session because otherwise I just won't say anything... so I've got loads of exciting questions to do now :) some of them are a bit personal...ie. Do you think about sex a lot ? thats for my mum to answer aswell.."Does your daughter.." that's a little awkward... ahh well I guess it's all helpfl

This may sound so boring.

I went for my first one...The woman asked about my dads childhood...My dad fears...Ummm asked me how i was...Kept asking my dad about his life and his side of the family...she found out about me thinking i killed my nan and asked why....Then i went 11 months later...Tryed talking to them about selfharm...But she just was intresed in my dad's life...Which really pissed me off...And i not been back...I was sent there for support and left with nothing...Now i been referred to a bigger counselling service..This on will hopfully be better

Good luck!

Stacey..x

I was referred to camhs when i took an overdose last year and they visited me in hospital and i have since them since.....

I had one bad camhs worker thingy, and then i decided i wanted to change cos didn't get on well with him.... and now i have this new one and shes helpful.....

I remember there were lots of questions, but i don't remember any forms though....

I hope it all goes well for you....

When I was 13-14, I had counselling at CAMHS because I had problems with making friends and hugely low confidence. The counselling did nothing to me and I went from social awkwardness to full-blown schizophrenia. After I left psych ward, I was referred to a CAMHS psychiatrist who helped me a lot. CAMHS from 15-18 was great. I only say the counselling was crap because talking therapies don't help me much. Medication is what helps me most.

Hey,
I know exactly what you mean. It was my teacher who pleaded to get me the CAMHS help.
My first session was a family session so that they could assess both what I thought was happening and what those around me thought was happening.
Let me know how things are going sweetheart.
Take care gorgeous,
Lexy x

:notsure: So far for me, she hasn't really helped much, I've only been twice, I'm not that comfortable with it, but it's a good let out. I tell my Mum to go to. I ask if I can talk to her on my own, but then afterwards my Mum comes back in and the counsellor talks about everything I've just said to my Mum, like you Sweetest Downfall, It doesn't help when my Mum is there.
Because my Mum is in denial that there is anything wrong. Last time she gave me five different new excercises to do, one of which was to talk to my Mum for 45 minutes a day... keep a diary, and write down when I'm upset... etc, I told her that I'm Self harming, and she tells my Mum to check my room for sharp objects. Didn't happen. The only thing I would say that's helped me so far, is that she told me to write down all of the bullying and give it in. So I have and she's cancelled appointments since. They're very busy in CAMHS. And it's hard to get appointments, Social services and Mr.Davies a teacher in school reffered me to her.
The only reason I like going, is because there's someone to talk to.
But if she doesn't make an appointment soon, I might just go to someone else, by myself in secret so my Mum or the school doesn't know.
It's law for them to tell my Mum everything because if you're dangering yourself, but the thing is. People on here have therapists and they know they SH and they don't go telling their parents. I actually find it easier and better and more helpful to talk to nice teachers then anything else so far.
I mean I've been getting worse by the day, and my counsellor isn't there.
So beware for appointments.
And tell your Mum to go out, if you don't want her there. She has too.

Hey.
Tbh my experience of CAMHS hasnt been very good I actually prefer the nurse guy who used to come into school to talk to me. I find the women i have quite patronising and she always says "does that make sense?" like every two minutes. She doesnt trust me so she invites my mum in at the end which makes me want to tell her less. She has no idea how bad my SI has got since i've been seeing here i'm glad i've only got two or three sessions left. I'm sure there is much better people there than the one i've got but when i said something i just got told your just getting to know her yeahh but i'm just getting to know my head of year but i can totally connect with her. So i wast impressed. Shes actually quite triggering.
Sorry for the rant.
I'm sure it'll be fine.
Amy x

hey so just thought I'd let you all know how it went, I spoke to this psychiatrist, he was a man and to be honest I would have found it easier to talk to a woman but oh well, plus the guy had a strong Indian accent and I had a lot of trouble understanding him ! so he basically asked me thousands of questions about my "issues" and general life. I think it went ok some of the questions I felt he butted in before I had finished talking but I guess he only needed a general idea, then he called my Dad in and he uncomfortably answered some questions about my childhood. The he tells me I have "Unstable personality traits" (it isn't a disorder because I'm too young apparently..) um Mild/Moderate depression(not more serious because I still enjoy hobbies, at the moment) and maybe on the verge of Social Phobia. so yeh they're going to have their meeting about me and hopefully I will see a psychologist and maybe group ? hmm not sure about that one lol but yepyep so fingers crossed it will be helpful, much love x

Glad it went okay :)
Good luck with them.
PM me if you ever fancy a chat, I seem to spend most of my time at CAMHS at the mo lol so I know what it's like.
x

I've always wondered about group therapy.
Let me know how things go and good luck!
take care sweetheart,
Lexy x

I hated CAMHS - they kept writing letters about me, telling my parents and the police about things. I felt like I couldn't trust them because they broke confidentiality so often.

I wonder whether the adult serivces are any better...

Musicmad123: I'm glad it went ok for you :)

they just sent me a letter with a follow up appointment for the 30th of June and asked both my parents to attend :| why ? why do they need my parents, they do know about my stuff but they're clueless, thel will add nothing because I never talk to them and I don't want to, I'm quite annoyed right now, because I've gonna have to wait till th end of the month now and even then I won't actually be able to properly talk to anyone grr !

What I did when I was put in a similar situation is that I called the CAMHS place up and arranged for the upcoming appointment to be half with my parents and half by myself. I asked them explicitly not to tell my parents that I called and explained that I talk better without my parents around. When I had the appointment, surely enough half was with my parents and half was without.
Parents are annoying, I agree.

ah that's an idea, thanks

I've had a positive experience with CAMHS, been there for almost 2 years now and met almost every psychiatrist/nurse/psychologist they have to offer! I'm in their group therapy now, its quite good actually. Best thing is just to say to them that you don't feel comfortable talking about some things in front of your parents, mine always sends them out when I say that, much to their annoyance haha. Don't worry about it too much, they might just want to talk to your parents so you can work out together what the best way for them to help you is. And when you get into the swing of things, therapy sessions etc will mostly be on your own :)