Service Detail

The Croydon CAMHS Getting Advice Team provides assessments of children and young people with moderate to severe mental health disorders, as well as those with complex and multiple learning disabilities and neurodevelopmental disorders.

We work with other statutory, voluntary and private agencies that work with these children and young people. This can include schools, local authority children with disability teams, child and adolescent health services and other CAMHS teams. Children and young people that need longer term input may also be referred to the Croydon CAMHS Getting Help Team .

We provide three-day psychoeducation groups for parents and carers of children and young people with a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

We also provide urgent psychiatric assessments and follow up appointments to children and young people who present at Croydon University Hospital following an episode of deliberate self-harm, or other psychiatric emergency.

A duty and triage service is provided by this team.

Duty service
Staff members responsible for being Ôon duty' each day will answer telephone queries and concerns from parents/carers and professionals.

They will also screen all referrals made to CAMHS for possible risks. If we have any concerns about the immediate safety and wellbeing of a child or young person being referred, we will contact the parent or carer, and/or referrers to discuss this and to make a plan of care.

Triage service
In the triage service, the duty clinician will contact parents, carers and/or referrers in order to gather additional information which will assist in making a decision regarding the referral. Team members include psychiatrists, mental health nurses, clinical psychologists and trainees.

Referrals
All referrals must be made by a professional associated with the child's care via the Croydon Single Point of Contact (SPOC) webpage .

Referrals can be made by a GP, paediatrician, school teacher, or social worker. Our team is unable to accept referrals from parents, carers, or self-referrals by the child or young person.

Our team members
Our service is made up of a number of professionals from different backgrounds who work together to provide multi-disciplinary care. This may include psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, clinical specialists, systemic family therapists, CAMHS practitioners, assistant psychologists, trainees and administrators.