Local health providers and commissioners in Warrington have been working in partnership with children and young people to redesign child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS), to make it easier for young people to get support.
As part of these changes, North West Boroughs Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is working in a more joined-up way with other organisations including Warrington Borough Council, local schools and third sector providers to better meet the needs of children and young people.
The focus will be on prevention, early intervention and making it as easy as possible for young people to get the support they need to thrive and enjoy positive mental health and wellbeing.
One of the key changes includes the introduction of an informal drop-in café called Mind Works, where young people can drop by to speak with a trained mental health professional for assessment, advice and signposting to local services.
Changes to services have already begun across Warrington and more developments will be taking place over the next year, including improvements to support for children and young people who experience mental health crisis.
Tarnia Woods, Clinical Lead for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services at North West Boroughs Healthcare, said: “Following national recommendations that NHS and other local providers should work together to provide mental health services that meet young people’s needs, we have worked closely with young people and our partners to develop a new model which addresses these recommendations and is much more responsive to the needs of the young people who use our services.”
“We are confident that by working together with our local partners across the whole system, we can provide better, joined-up care for young people with mental health needs and their families, to support them to have positive health and wellbeing.”
Claire Hammill, Commissioning Manager for children’s and young people’s mental health at NHS Warrington Clinical Commissioning Group, which commissioned the new patient pathway said: “We are proud to have developed this new service through co-design with children, young people, parents, carers, mental health staff, and colleagues across health, education and care.
“By doing so, we have given children and young people more control over how they access services based on their feedback and enabled informal access to early support, together with streamlining their journey into and through the rest of the service if needed.
“As part of the new way of working, we have also worked with local schools to support teachers to recognise mental health issues and to enable, where necessary, the offer of earlier support. We hope the new service goes from strength to strength as it develops and improves over the coming year in order that children and young people have the best outcomes that they can.”
Warrington Borough Council’s executive board member for children’s services, Cllr Jean Carter, said: “Nationally, nearly half of our children are unable to access the CAMHS care they need to help recover. At the same time, schools are facing huge challenges in dealing with mental health issues, due to the impact of pressures such as social media, online bullying, anxiety about exams and family problems.
“That means there has never been a better time for us to adopt a whole-family and multi-agency approach in Warrington.
“These services and this approach are vital for the welfare and safeguarding of our children and young people. We want to make sure that, in Warrington, children and young people have the right support when they need it.”
The weekly Mind Works drop-in cafés in Warrington are:
● Monday – Orford Youth Base, Orford Youth Centre, Capesthorne Road, Warrington, WA2 0JF – 3.30pm – 6.00pm
● Tuesday – Warrington Youth Cafe, New Town House, Buttermarket Street, Warrington, WA1 2NH – 12.00pm – 1.00pm
● Wednesday – Orford Youth Base, Orford Youth Centre, Capesthorne Road, Warrington, WA2 0JF – 4.00pm – 5.00pm
● Wednesday – Warrington Youth Cafe, New Town House, Buttermarket Street, Warrington, WA1 2NH – 5.00pm – 6.00pm
