# Any experience with CAMHS?



## Gemie

Hi :hi:
I can't believe I've been on b&b for a long time and never thought of coming in this section :dohh:

Anyway my son has a lot going on in his life at the moment... let's just say he's not finding life easy. He's got severe severe's diseas which basically means he's in constant pain with his heels (severe's is supposed to be sports related and only last a few weeks, responds to cold tratment i.e ice therapy and physio. At worst a plaster cast for a few weeks) well roll of 4 years and 15 plaster casts, an air boot, pyshio, heat treatment, ice treatment, you name it... and a change of school to a special school b/c he can't get around normal school for the pain!
In a word, it's been a nightmare :cry: Thankfully he's settled in really well and is catching up on his education (was home school for around a year on and off and that's only 1 hour a day :dohh:)
He's made friends and thank God he's doing well. Just hope it's not hindered his grades, he's in the 5th year and doing exams soon [-o&lt;
Anyway (I'm trying to cut a loooong story short but failing lol)

I've not even got to the [art about his relationship with his dad... that's a long story too lol I'll try and cut it short...
Myself and his dad broke up when ds was around a year.
His dad has never been the best father and quite selfish by all accounts... I guess he's tried in his own way but not quite good enough iykwim
Anyway roll on 15 years of oet downs and his dad gets with my 'best friend' who has 3 kids and they've moved in together and as you can guess ds is feeling pushed out, his dad is trying but to me, it all seems too little too late.
ds isn't taking it very well and although his dad is really trying ds is very suspicious of everything which is to be expected.

This amongst other things has led ds to be depressed and been referred to CAMHS we've been waiting 3 weeks but heard nothing yet. It'd getting to the point where we're desperate for someone to talk to now.
Thankfully ds is at a school which is experienced with emotional issues in teens etc

Sorry for the essay but I think I just needed to get this out lol
Thanks for reading :flower:


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## punk_pig

I'm sure the school have had lots of contact with CAMHS before, maybe they could chase things up for you and it might make things quicker if they offer school time and a private room for some of his appointments?

I work in a school where we have lots of kids with CAMHS referrals for very similar issues and I'm sure if a parent was desperate I could at least find out how long it might take for that appointment to come through.


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## hellohefalump

My sister is involved with CAMHS she is fourteen, to be honest they're pretty crap and you'd be better off going private if you can afford it.

I don't know if you know about adult mental health on the NHS... that is EXTREMELY crap. CAMHS is better than that, but they're still not great.


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## SeaThreePeeO

My daughter has recently be re-reffered back to CAMHS. She has Autism and behavioural issues that have escalated due to puberty. I know that the waiting list can be extremely long, we're looking at a 6-8 week wait.

The last expereince I had wth CAMHS was when she was 2 years old and I can't remember them being a great help. However there are other people you can turn to for help. I would recoomend asking the school and social services as well as your GP to push CAMHS into speeding up the wait. Social Services will also be able to put you in touch with other organisations that may benefit you and your son. Such as Family Friends and other forms of counselling etc.

Unfortunately you're in for the long haul. But there is help out there, the trick is getting access to it. Keep at them.


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## helen1234

my daughter was reffered to camhs in halesowen and was there for a yr, she was discharged and the did nothing at all, i made a complaint and she was seen by a senior, the woman i was seeing was a trainee doctor who didnt specialise in mental health was just there on placement :/

anyway the senior wasnt much better, all they kept saying was how have you been feeling, does coming here help. i ended up getting sharp with her after 4 months i told them they better start advising her on how to manage her anger and give her proper advice on how to deal with her anger and control her impulses. 
they made her keep a record of things but she did write in it half the time, and they wouldnt let me n the room when they were talking to her so hey didnt know half of what was going on, once she left school they didnt want to know, said if she wanted to talk to someone she needs to speak to college now
she's been referred through her neuro to see a neuro psycho now as her compulsions are really strong, stronger than ever.

hope you can sort it out hun x


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## Angelbabymama

Hello, I'm not a parent of a teenager, but I'm just 20 and didn't want to r&r... I was refered to camhs for my self harming and depression, I found they were absoloutley useless, I wish I could be of more help to you, but my way out - so to speak was through a private therapist who has since moved to South Africa. I can speak to my mum who may be able to tell me the typ of therapy I received and you could look up similar treatments?


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## Gemie

Thanks for the advice... ds has an appointment on 1st feb for his first meeting so we'll see how it goes. Helen this is in west brom and not halesowen though I dunno why as we're closer to halesowen :shrug:


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