Children and Families - Clinical Service

Description

Who we are: 

The Children and Families Clinical Service works with children and young people and their parents and carers who are receiving support from Children's Social Care, Young Hackney, the Family Support Service and the Youth Offending Team.

They offer a full range of CAMHS services including specialist clinical assessments and individual, family and group therapy and are part of the CAMHS Alliance

The Clinical Service offers specialist psychological support for children and young people their families who:

• have mental health needs,
• are experiencing family relationship issues and stressors,
• are struggling with emotional and behavioural issues, and/or
• where there are child protection concerns.

The Clinical Service is unique in its accessibility and integration with other services for children and young people provided by the Local Authority.

Their clinical team works with children and families across:

• Children’s Social Care
• Young Hackney
• Youth Justice (YOT) and
• Family Support

We work jointly with other CAMHS providers as needed, and take a “no wrong front door” approach to responding to requests for clinical input. Any child or family open to other Children and Families services is potentially eligible for Clinical Service input.

We are committed to children and families experiencing a non-stigmatising, collaborative and culturally sensitive clinical service, and are committed to user participation.

The Clinical Service is a specialist mental health team and has staff with different skills to meet the needs of young people who need their help.

The following professionals work together in this service:

• Clinical Psychologists
• Systemic Family Therapists
• Couples Psychotherapists
• Child Psychotherapists
• Occupational Therapists
• Forensic Psychologists

Who we work with:

This is an integrated clinical service for young people receiving support from the local authority service listed above.

Our Clinicians work directly with families where there are concerns about a child’s:

• emotional wellbeing,
• behaviour
• development or
• mental health; within the context of presenting difficulties including family and community stressors
• educational difficulties
• offending behaviours
• abuse and neglect
• trauma
• attachment difficulties
• parenting difficulties
• deliberate self harm and substance misuse problems.

We also provide clinical consultation, supervision and training to other Children and Families Services staff, foster carers, Special Guardians and adopters.

What we do:

The Clinical Service generally works on an outreach basis with children and families in their homes, schools, Youth Hubs or other community settings. They can also offer individual, family and group work.

The Clinical Service offers a range of support to service users, depending on their identified needs and goals.

Clinicians draw on a range of evidence-based approaches including:

• CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy)
• Systemic Psychotherapy
• Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
• Social Learning Theory and
• Attachment Theory-based approaches.

Where direct work is provided to children and families, this may be offered on:

• short-term basis (1-6 sessions)
• medium-term basis  (6-12 sessions) or
• (less commonly) on a long-term basis.

As part of their direct work with children and families, the Clinical Service provides a number of specialist assessments and interventions, relating to parents/carers, young people and children (including unborn children and Care Leavers).

This includes specialist assessments related to:

• parenting
• neurodevelopmental issues
• attachment issues
• self-harm risk
• sexually harmful behaviours
• trauma
• cognitive functioning and
• attention/concentration difficulties.

Specialist Interventions cover a range of evidence-based approaches, reflecting children and families' broad range of presenting needs, preferences and circumstances.

These include psychologically informed and cross-agency projects to address issues such as:

• CSE (Child Sexual Explotation) risk,
• gang involvement
• domestic violence
• placement breakdowns and
• post-adoption support.