CAMHS CONSULTATION: SETTINGS AND LOCATIONS OF CAMHS APPOINTMENTS & CAMHS WEBSITE

We are members of the ‘Senedd yr Ifanc’ Wrexham Youth Parliament. The Senedd yr Ifanc is a group of young people aged 11-25 with a connection to Wrexham.  We work on improving issues that matter to young people while giving them a voice. We as a focus group have come together to work on a project with CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) in Wrexham.

CAMHS is a child and adolescent mental health service, they support children and young people who have difficulties with their emotional or behavioural wellbeing including eating disorders, autistic spectrum disorder, attention deficit hypersensitive disorder (ADHD), depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and psychosis.

We are currently running a young people’s consultation for 10 – 25 years olds to further develop the CAMHS environment for children and young people while using their services.

CAHMS want to hear what young people have to say about their environment if you have used the services of CAMHS or NOT. We would like everyone’s views.

Your voice matters. Please tell us what you think.

The aim of this consultation was to find out what would help young people and children feel more comfortable attending meetings and appointments in CAMHS.

Our findings found that there was quite an even split of respondents that had and had not heard of CAMHS and 21 % of respondents had used their services. Of those who have responded to this consultation 16 – 18 years had used the CAMHS services the most.

Natural lighting and blues were the most popular to have in rooms, with posters on the walls. We found that fidget toys and art supplies were popular for all age groups on the trollies and items in the rooms to make them more homely such as throws and cushions which would make them feel more comfortable. Drinks, food and music were also popular.

The preferred place to have meetings was the CAMHS building with schools coming next. Over half (61.9%) of the respondents would feel comfortable attending a drop in session and 55.5% would use a website if they had one. 77% of respondents said they would like the use of the outdoor space. 

947 respondents supported the consultation, we had the most responses from 10-15 years old, and we feel that the present circumstances of Covid 19 prevented us from visiting clubs and organisations which in turn restricted the age groups. Schools supported us really well.

We feel that some people may have misunderstood the question ‘what colours would you like to see on a feature wall’ and that we should have worded the question differently, in addition, the question ‘would you use a CAMHS website?’ we should have specified if you were CAMHS service user.  The question asking what you would like to see on the trollies was under represented for the older age groups and this should be taken into consideration.

The focus group have made some recommendations based on their findings and some through discussions with young people, some who have been CAMHS service users.

Recommendations from the data received

• To have colourful mood lamps in the rooms, then the young people can be given the option of which lighting they prefer, natural main light or colourful mood lamps.
• The focus group have recommended having portable trollies carrying age appropriate Items to be used in appointment rooms. These trollies could include grounding and mindfulness objects for the correct age group and can be moved between rooms as and when needed.
• To have comforting and homely accessories in the rooms, such as cushions and throws.
• To have fidget and stress toys accessible in all rooms.
• To have drinks and biscuits available during meetings. 
• To have background music available if they would like it.
• To have a fun modern easy accessible website.
• To have an accessible out door space to include shelters and seating areas for service users to use.

Other recommendations from the focus group  

• In the initial letters offering appointments mention/offer other locations to have the appointment, especially for the first appointment
• The group felt that further research into suitable / age appropriate posters would be recommended.
• To ask the service users if they wanted a family member or friend in the appointments after the initial assessment or would they rather go in alone.
• To ask the service users if there was anything that would make them feel more comfortable in their first meeting and keep this on file for further meetings.
• Develop an Information booklet or leaflet to include links and a QR code to the website for first time users, sent in the referral letter so people know what and who to expect.