Overview
Promoting links between specialist child mental health services and non-medical health professionals.
Care Setting
Out-patient services
Care Group
Children and Young People
Evidence Base for Practice
The Scottish Needs Assessment Programme (2003) on CAMH aimed to identify ways of better addressing the mental health needs of children and young people, through promotion of positive mental health, activity to prevent mental health difficulties and when and how to provide help for those children and young people who are experiencing mental health problems. It carried out an enquiry from published research, and a process of surveys, seminars and consultations with children, young people and those who care for them and work for them. The report made a series of recommendations around integrating the promotion of positive mental health with increased focus on prevention as well as improved systems of care. The report focused on the need for the ‘mainstreaming’ of mental health, essentially that mental health became everybody’s business.
Quality assurance/impact of practice
An evaluation of the CALM service was undertaken by a psychology student whilst on placement at the Rowan Centre as part of her MSc in Applied Psychology for Children and Young People. This valuable evaluation used a survey questionnaire to obtain the opinions of the service users to determine whether the CALM service had met its original aims and objectives. The results of the evaluation indicated that in many ways CALM is working well and achieving the aims and objectives. However, a constant theme was a concern from the service users regarding the wider service provision of CAMHS. It was acknowledged that the findings should be used to further explore the identified themes, for example, through a series of focus group meetings over a longer period of time. Such a follow-up would be expected to include views from a larger sample, and from professionals in a greater variety of professions.
Practice Summary
Consultation, Advice and Liaison in Moray (CALM) is a service set up to promote links between the specialist child mental health service and non-mental health professionals such as primary care NHS staff, school staff, social workers, GPs, and workers from the voluntary sector.
Practice Detail
Moray is the 8th largest council area in Scotland, covering 2238 square metres of the north-east of the country and is comprised mainly of open countryside and woodland. The five main towns are Elgin, Forres, Buckie, Lossiemouth and Keith and just over half of the population reside in these towns (The Moray Council, n.d.). The population totals at around 87,770 people and out of these 20,420 (23.5%) people are 19 years or younger (Children in Scotland, 2008).
The Rowan Centre is a specialist Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) in Moray operating at multiple tiers. The team consists of psychologists, psychiatrists, psychotherapists and nurse specialists. The team accepts referrals for children 0-18 years from fellow professionals who are concerned about children and young people's mental health. The service currently receives around 500 referrals per year and the average time from referral to first appointment is approximately four months. The Moray CAMHS team has a catchment area covering the whole of Moray and in addition the Banff region of Aberdeenshire.
CALM is a local project that was started in 2003 with the help of funding from the Changing Children’s Services fund (Scottish Executive, 2001). Originally, the CALM service was operating separately from the main CAMH service. This presented some practical difficulties and resulted in much confusion amongst professionals and consequently, following advice from the steering group, the CALM service was revised and is now incorporated into the CAMH service itself.
In everyday practice, CALM involves the handling of queries and concerns regarding children and young people brought to the Rowan Centre by other professionals, usually working within a Tier 1 service. Each day, one staff member is on call for a specified time slot to deal with any mental health concerns and referrals brought to the attention of the Rowan Centre. Contacts can take place through a telephone appointment booking system
Challenges
The project has been a major challenge for the specialist team within the Rowan Centre, particularly in the early phase of getting the project up and running. The project is now well- established and has been operating for 8 years. Overall, the response to the project has been very positive on the whole. However, there have been differing views from staff across the services in sharing the same hopes and ideas for positive mental health and a significant amount of stigma was encountered. The continuing main challenge appears to be the lack of awareness of the project and the confusion between ‘CALMS’ and ‘CAMHS’. The Rowan Centre is currently developing leaflets regarding CALMS and the option of having an open day has been discussed.