The treatment – or therapies – a child or young person may be offered will be discussed with you planned after the initial assessment, dependent on their needs. They will be reviewed regularly based on how they respond to individual therapies or medication if relevant.
Talking about your thoughts and feelings can help you deal with some of the tough times in your life. If something’s bothering you and you turn it over and over again in your mind, the worry can grow. Talking about it can help you work out what’s really upsetting you and find a way to make things better.
We often find it helpful to talk with a friend or family member, but sometimes friends and family can’t help us and we need to talk to a professional. Talking therapies involve talking to someone who’s trained to help you deal with your negative feelings. We most commonly offer cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and dialectical behavioural therapy (DBT) at child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS).
Cognitive behavioural therapy
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) focuses on how you think about the things going on in your life - your thoughts, images, beliefs, and attitudes - and how this impacts the way you behave and deal with emotional problems. It looks at how you can change any negative patterns of thinking or behaviour that may be causing you difficulties. In turn, this can change the way you feel. CBT tends to be short, taking six weeks to six months.
You’ll usually attend a session once a week, each session lasts 50 minutes or an hour. CBT may focus on what’s going on in the present rather than the past, but therapy may also look at your past and your experiences' impact on how you interpret the world now.
Dialectical behavioural therapy
Dialectical behavioural therapy (DBT) is a psychological therapy for people with self-harming behaviour or suicidal thoughts. DBT also helps you to regulate and control your emotions, but it’s different to CBT in that it focuses on accepting who you are at the same time. DBT therapists aim to balance acceptance techniques with change techniques.
Family therapy
A person with a mental illness can find it very supportive to have their family understand their illness, give encouragement, and assist them with everyday life. A family therapist helps both the person with the mental illness and those closest to them to understand each other’s feelings and resolve practical day-to-day issues. Family therapy sessions can include carers and friends as well as relatives.
Best For You
Best for you is a website for young people offering a wide range of tried-and-tested digital resources, providing 24/7 support for young people. It also connects organisations within and beyond the NHS to provide early intervention support, clinical assessment and specialist treatment.
Visit the Best for you website.
Kooth
Kooth is an online mental wellbeing community providing free, safe, and anonymous support for children and young people. Signing up is free providing access to a range of mental health and wellbeing support resources including counsellors on chat, and the Kooth podcast, all online and anonymous.
Lumi Nova app
Lumi nova: tales of courage, is a digital therapeutic that helps with the symptoms of worries or anxiety for children aged 7-12 years with mild to moderate needs, helping them learn skills to self-manage their worries/anxiety in an engaging intergalactic adventure game (app).
Young Minds
A guide to Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services for children and young people.
If you feel unable to keep yourself safe, it’s a mental health emergency. Whatever you’re going through, you don’t have to manage on your own. There are people you can talk to by texting, typing, speaking, or using BSL.
Text NATTER to 85258 textline
Text NATTER to 85258 to access free, 24/7 text support. Your text will be answered by trained volunteers and it’s confidential unless they’re concerned about your safety.
Best For You
Best for you is a website for young people offering a wide range of tried-and-tested digital resources, providing 24/7 support for young people. It also connects organisations within and beyond the NHS to provide early intervention support, clinical assessment and specialist treatment.
Visit the Best for you website.
The Circle, a crisis prevention café
The Circle is a hub space and café that offers mental health support for young people in Ealing and Hounslow who are near, or at a crisis point with their mental health.
Speak CAMHS helpline
Call 0800 328 4444 and choose option 2 for Speak CAMHS.
The helpline is open:
- Monday to Friday from 8am to 11pm
- Weekends and Bank holidays from midday to 8pm.
What is Speak CAMHS?
Speak CAMHS is a specialist helpline available for anyone to discuss mental health concerns they have about children and young people, under 18, living in Ealing, Hounslow and Hammersmith & Fulham.
The helpline is run by a team of child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) professionals from West London NHS Trust, who are familiar with local services and have a range of specialist mental health knowledge.
Who is the helpline for?
- It's available to anyone, which includes: children and young people, their families, carers, CAMHS colleagues, and other professionals, such as GPs, social workers, and teachers.
- The helpline aims to support children and young people to utilise their safety plan, which they may have formulated with their community or other specialist care teams, to minimise any potential risk issues.
- The purpose of the helpline is to avoid and de-escalate periods of crisis for children and young people, therefore reducing visits to emergency departments and avoiding admissions to psychiatric hospitals.