Our Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) is here to help children and young people up to 18 years old, and their families in North Tyneside.
Young people come and see us for lots of different reasons, such as:
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Eating disorders
- Self-harm
- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
- Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
You may meet several different kinds of professionals in CAMHS. All of our staff are trained in assessing children and young people, and some staff have additional specialist training. You will be told who you will be coming to see before you come and see us, and this may include a:
- nurse
- psychiatrist
- clinical psychologist
- social worker
- art therapist
- primary mental health worker
Your appointment
If you are referred to us you’ll receive a letter offering you an initial appointment which will include the name of the member of staff you will meet and the location of the department. Your first appointment will last around 1½ hours.
We will usually arrange to see you for two appointments to assess what you need. These appointments give you the opportunity to tell us more about you and what is important in your life. We will discuss with you what we think may be the problem, and work with you to agree what the best way of helping will be.
You will always be given plenty of opportunity to ask questions – please let us know if you don’t understand, or if you disagree with, what is being said. This is important to us so we can get our assessment and treatment right.
We hold clinics at Albion Road in North Shields, Monday to Friday between 9am-5pm.
Online consultation
Where appropriate you may be asked to attend a CAMHS consultation online via a video call.
Rather than travelling to your appointment, you go into the clinic’s online ‘waiting area’. We will be notified when you arrive and your clinician will join you when ready
You don’t need to set up an account and no information you enter is stored.
If you have been given an online appointment please click on the following link to start the consultation at your appointment time – online consultation
- What do I need to make a video call?
- A good connection to the internet
- A private, well-lit area where you won’t be disturbed during the consultation
- One of the following- Google Chrome web browser or Safari web browser
- Web-camera, speakers and microphone already built into your laptop or mobile device
- Is it secure?
Video calls are secure, your privacy is protected. You have your own private video room that only authorised clinicians can enter.
- How much does a video call cost?
- The video call is free (except for your internet usage)
- You don’t use any data while waiting for a clinician to join you
- A video call uses a similar amount of data to Skype of FaceTime
- If you’re using a smartphone or tablet, if you can, connect to a home or work Wi-Fi network to avoid using your mobile data allowance
Bringing someone to your appointment
It is very important to us that you feel supported throughout your treatment. You can bring who you like to your appointments, however it’s often helpful for your family or carers to be involved. You will also have the opportunity to speak to staff on your own.
In confidence
Everything you say to a member of staff will be confidential, unless they feel you or anybody else is in danger of being harmed. If this happens, your CAMHS worker will talk to you about who they need to tell and what details will be shared.
Treatment
The type of treatment we provide can vary depending on why you are with us. Some of our treatments include:
- Individual talking therapies including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), solution focused therapy, art therapy
- Behavioural therapies including support for parents with behaviour management strategies
- Group therapies including Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT)
- Medication may be available to treat some problems
How to access the service
You can be referred to our CAMHS team by a range of professionals including GPs, social workers and public health nurses in schools.
If you are a health or educational professional, or a social worker, and are concerned about a child you can refer them directly into our service. Please see our accessibility criteria and referral form below:
Support and advice relating to coronavirus
These are confusing, stressful times for all of us. As the coronavirus pandemic affects numerous areas of our lives, it also impacts each person in different ways. Feelings of anxiety and uncertainty are completely normal during times like this.
We wanted to provide you with some information and resources to help you deal with this difficult time. Please see our advice relating to Coronavirus/Covid-19 for children, young people and families and advice relating to Coronavirus/Covid-19 for children, young people and families living with Autism Spectrum Condition below:
Young people aged between 11-25 in the North Tyneside Area can access, Kooth, which provides online mental health and wellbeing support, via any internet accessible device. Kooth provides an opportunity to interact in a supportive way with other young people, as well as receive support from a qualified counsellor, who are available from 12pm until 10pm on weekdays, and from 6pm until 10pm, 365 days a year.
Workshops
At CAMHS, we run a number of workshops on a range of mental health topics. These are primarily aimed at parents, carers, or any adults working with a young person with these difficulties. As we know, for young people with mental health difficulties, it makes a really significant impact when those around them have a better understanding of their experience. For a lot of children, this is one of the most helpful interventions they can get. We hope that these workshops will help you support a young person in the way that they need, and give you the confidence to keep developing strategies to help them achieve their potential.
We had previously run these workshops face to face, but have worked on recording them so they are available online and accessible to a greater number of people, with the idea that the more people understand these difficulties, the better supported a young person will be by those in their environment. Some workshops have an accompanying handout for viewers to look through, so we encourage you to explore these in your own time. We hope that the information in these workshops becomes widely understood by those working with young people, so please feel free to share this website link with anyone who might benefit.
Thanks for watching.
- Attachment & Adverse Childhood Experiences
Attachment and ACEs Accompanying Handout
Watch our Attachment & Adverse Childhood Experiences workshop, presented by Victoria Gill, senior CAMHS practitioner.
To view the video clips inserted, please click here:
- What are the effects when opportunities for social engagement are restricted:
- Resilience is a KEY factor that supports long terms and maintained change:
- Autism and Anxiety Workshop
Watch our Autism and Anxiety workshop here:
To view the video clips inserted, please click here:
- Tics Workshop
Watch our Tics workshop here:
- Low Mood and Depression Workshop
- Anxiety Workshop
- Managing Difficult Behaviour Workshop
- ADHD Brain Workshop
- Understanding Autism
Resources for Carers, Professionals and Young People
- www.recoverycollegeonline.co.uk Providing a range of online educational courses and resources to people with experience of mental health issues.
- www.camhs-resources.co.uk Providing a number of resources on a range of mental health topics, including books, websites, apps, videos, and downloads.
- Parent course on Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASCs)
We have launched a BRAND NEW course at Recovery College Online!
Our new online resource ADAPT (After Diagnosis of Autism Parent support Training) is for parents of children and young people who are diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC).
Co-produced by York CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) and CYC (City of York Council) Specialist Teaching Team for Autism in York, the resource aims to increase parent’s understanding of the diagnosis of ASC and how the diagnosis impacts on family and school life. Topics covered include:
- Receiving a diagnosis
- Autism at a brain level
- Language and communication
- Visual supports
- Understanding and managing behaviour
You will need to create an account in order to access this course. We have done this, and written a step by step guide for you to do this (it should take approx. 10 minutes).
- Click on this link – www.recoverycollegeonline.co.uk/
- You will need to create an account to access this course. Do this by clicking ‘login’ in the top right hand corner of the page
- Search ‘ADAPT’ in the search bar – click on the course titled ‘ADAPT – After Diagnosis of Autism Parent Support Training’
- At the bottom of the page there will be a message saying ‘guests will need to create an account to access this course’ – click the button to create a new account.
- Enter your details (make a note of the username and password – you will need these to login)
- Click ‘continue’ at the bottom
- Again, search for the ADAPT course in the search bar, click on it, and click continue – this will take you to a page which asks you to login – enter the details from step 5.
- Confirm your account via email (we waited about 10 minutes for this email to come through – remember to check your junk mail)
- Now you should be able to access the course – there will be a button at the bottom of the course page that now says ‘enrol’ – once you click this it will take you to the course.
credit: Tees Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust)
Contact us
Albion Road Clinic
Albion Road
North Shields
NE29 0HG
Telephone: 0191 219 6685
