Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service

CHILD AND ADOLESCENT MENTAL HEALTH SERVICE (CAMHS) PRACTICE IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMME

New policy developments and guidance in education, health and social services emphasise the importance of the emotional well-being and mental health of children and young people (Every Child Matters Change for Children Programme, DfES, 2004; Youth Matters, DfES, 2005; The National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services, DoH, 2004; The National Healthy Schools Standard on emotional health and well-being, DfES, 2005).

PMHW Conference Presentation 5th November 2009 Click Here for Alex's presentation Dartford and Gravesend Local CAMHS Conference Click Here for Alex's presentation Adolescent Brain Presentation Click Here for Alex's presentation

To meet the mental health needs of children and young people the policy calls for the development of multi-agency comprehensive child and adolescent mental health (CAMH) services that are delivered in a seamless manner and that are appropriate to the service users needs.  Thus supporting young people’s mental health is not just the responsibility of Specialist CAMHS, it is the responsibility of all those working with children and young people.

In order to provide a comprehensive range of CAMH services the workforce across Kent it needs to be developed to include various capabilities and skills.  For example: it must be ensured that there are skills in promoting mental health, skills in preventing mental health problems and skills in providing appropriate care and treatment for those with emerging and established mental health problems. 

This has implications both for the development and improvement of services and for the development and training of the workforce to meet this need.  There is a need for all staff working directly with children, young people and their families, to have sufficient knowledge, training and support to develop their clients’ mental health and emotional well-being.

AIMS OF THE PROGRAMME

The programme’s aim is to put in place processes and structures that support and develop the children and young people’s workforce’s capability to take responsibility in terms of caring for children and adolescents’ emotional well-being and to do so in an optimal and relevant way, appropriate to their level and role. 

The CAMHS Practice Improvement Programme is a Kent wide programme which covers all statutory services for children and young people and will attempt, where possible, to engage with the voluntary and private sector.

The focus of the programme is on improving the provision of comprehensive mental health services for children and young people.  This is done in various ways:

• The primary focus of the programme for the improvement of CAMH services is through the training and development of the children and young people’s workforce.  This will continue and extend the work of the CAMHS Training and Development Project (put in hyperlink). 
• The programme also hopes to achieve this aim through enhancing and supporting commissioning and practice through research, policy and practice guidance. 

The programme sits between commissioning and delivery, providing an advisory and consultancy function in an attempt to improve both commissioning and provision of multi-agency comprehensive CAMHS provision.

The programme supports agencies in training and developing their workforce’s skills, competencies and capabilities to enable the workforce to provide effective and safe responses to promoting emotional well-being and mental health, identifying mental health difficulties and offer effective, evidence based interventions across a spectrum of need. 

The programme will continue to ensure that workforce development locally is in line with National developments.  The focus is on developing a workforce skilled to deliver the National and Local Agenda with an emphasis on mental health promotion, early identification and intervention of problems, quicker treatment for clients, more accessible and streamlined specialist services.  These will lead to better outcomes for children, as part of the Change for Children Programme.