Children and Young People Eating Disorder Service:
For more information on our Eating Disorder Service please click the link below:
https://www.elft.nhs.uk/services/bedfordshire-and-luton-community-eating-disorders-service-children-and-young-people
Neuro Developmental Team (NDT):
The team provides a service for people under 18 years of age who are diagnosed with intellectual disability, or who are Autistic and are presenting with moderate to severe mental health difficulties or behavioural challenges associated with their diagnosed condition. Where other community services directly related to the referral reason have been accessed within the community and have been unable to support the needs.
We are a multidisciplinary team of clinicians who work collaboratively with the young person, their parents or caregivers and wider support networks to provide evidence based therapeutic interventions and advice to treat and support mental health and wellbeing as well as the embedding of skills and knowledge by parents and carers outside of the therapeutic appointments to achieve to achieve effective lasting long results.
Community Access Services (CAS)
We support children, young people and parents across Bedfordshire and Luton to get help and advice about their psychological wellbeing in various community settings,. These can be through your GP, School, Health Visitors, Perinatal Teams and others. We have dedicated teams based within these community settings ready to help you when you need us.
Our Offer
Our CAMHS CAS team is there to help and support you. You will find a compassionate, non judgemental space to talk through your concerns.
Advice and Help
Our teams are made up of professionals from various disciplines dedicated to your individual situation, who meet regularly to discuss your concerns taking a holistic approach towards your care.
We also work closely with other agencies - such as Education, Social Care, Early Help and others to ensure families receive the right support.
Is CAMHS right for you?
If you're concerned about your child’s emotional well-being or mental health, or if you're a young person looking for guidance, we are here to help.
- Talk to Your GP: If you’re unsure whether CAMHS is the right place for support, you can start by discussing your concerns with your GP. They can provide advice, suggest local services, and refer you to CAMHS if needed. Most GP’s have a CAMHS link worker.
- School Support: Many schools have a dedicated CAMHS link worker or a drop in service who can help. You can contact them through your schools mental health lead, pastoral leader SENCO .
- Self referral: If you're a parent, carer, or young person, you can contact CAMHS directly for guidance on mental health concerns. Our team will contact you to listen to your situation and help you understand your options. Please do this through completing the self-referral form through this link … - SPOE link.
- Other Community Professionals: You can talk to your social worker, health visitor, or any other community professional and they can help you make a referral to CAMHS.
- Call CAMHS: If none of the above options are suitable please contact us on the number above and ask to speak to the Clinician of Day.
Next Steps
We understand that mental health challenges can be difficult and approaching CAMHS can feel worrying. This is what you can expect:
- Referral Process: . Once a referral has been made, the local team will discuss the information that’s been provided and consider what might help you and your family
- Assessment: It’s likely that if you’re referred to CAMHS, we will arrange an assessment with you. This will help us understand the mental health needs in more detail, and agree the best course of action with you.
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Parent - child/infant relationship work School & Nursery Support: Collaboration with schools to ensure a child or young person’s mental health is better understood and supported within the educational environment. Transfer to other specialist CAMHS support if require
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Advice on other specialist organisations that can support you
- Therapeutic Interventions: The CAMHS CAS offer a range of brief therapeutic interventions for children, young people and their families, such as:
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Group interventions – for children, young people and parent/carers - evidenced based group support for parents and carers of children and young people under 12 years of age. Evidence suggests that parent carers have a key role in supporting their children’s psychological wellbeing.
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One-to-One Interventions with young people; confidential sessions with trained therapists to explore emotions, thoughts, and behaviours in a safe space.
Adolescent Mental Health Team (AMHT):
The specialist team work with young people aged 13-17 presenting with severe mental illness and behaviour indicating a high risk to themselves or others.
This will include young people who are psychotic, bipolar, severely depressed or dysphoric and emotionally unstable, or with other conditions such as obsessive-compulsive disorder where there is a high level of dysfunction, and those isolated to a marked degree when it is considered a significant mental illness is likely.
The main function of the model is to provide an alternative to in-patient admission through community-based interventions.
Core CAMHS Luton and Dunstable
We have two Core teams, one based in Luton and the other in Dunstable . They provide support when children and young people, experience significant emotional or behavioural difficulties.
What we do
We provide assessment, consultation and/or treatment to those presenting with moderate to severe emotional difficulties, such as depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, self-harm and post-traumatic stress disorder. We can also support those with severe behavioural difficulties when there are underlying mental health difficulties underpinning the behaviour.
Our clinicians come from a variety of backgrounds including mental health nurses, psychotherapists, arts therapists, counsellors, psychologists, family therapists, and child and adolescent psychiatrists (medical doctors specialising in mental health). We use a range of different therapies such as Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, Art Therapy, Family Therapy and specialist parenting groups.
Looked After Children (LAC):
Bedfordshire Looked after Children CAMHS provides outpatient assessments, support and treatment for children and young people up to the age of 18 years, who are in Local Authority care and are experiencing moderate to severe mental health problems. The LAC team works with children and young people who are not living at home with their birth parents and are placed with foster carers or in residential homes, either voluntarily or through a Care Order being granted to the Local Authority by the Courts.
Bedfordshire LAC CAMHS is a multi-disciplinary team comprised of Professional Clinical Lead, Psychotherapist, Family Systemic Therapist, Specialist Nurse and a Social Worke
