CAMHS

The Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) provides support to families facing difficult times with their children.

Young people up to the age of 18, and their families, can be referred to their local Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) for therapeutic help and support. CAMHS teams work together with parents to help children and young people with emotional, behavioural, or psychological difficulties. They can help manage emotional difficulties arising from life events, such as bereavement, illness, and divorce, and also with more serious and on-going difficulties, such as eating disorders and self-harm.

Services in Kensington and Chelsea

CAMHS operate at locations across Kensington and Chelsea. Young people and their families can contact some of these services directly. Others need to be referred from professionals such as a GP, health visitor, school, children's centre, social worker or mental health worker. For the services listed below, the boundary which splits the borough north and south is Holland Park Avenue.

• Universal services - GPs, health visitors, school teachers, social workers contribute to the emotional and mental well-being of children directly and indirectly, often through preventative work or support for parents.
• Early intervention - Workers specialising in mental health support for children and young people with mild to moderate difficulties and their families.
• Specialist services - These work with young people who have persistent and more complex difficulties, often through multi-disciplinary teams to achieve co-ordinated help and support.
• Hospital/in-patient services - Young people with complex needs that require considerable resources are often treated by hospital in-patient services.

There are additional services for particular groups of children and young people, (such as learning disabilities, involvement with the criminal justice system, children in local authority care).