"CAMHS Nottingham"

My teenage daughter has been struggling with her mental health for several years but over the last year has experienced increased suicidal ideation, culminating in 3 attempts on her life in the last year.

In September last year, after being discharged for the second time from the crisis team with no follow up I submitted a complaint via PALS and received a response in November stating that CAMHS had not acted appropriately in my childs case regarding all of the issues I raised. By this point I was told my child would be placed on a waiting list for support with the South Team and we would be placed on a waiting list for family therapy. Unfortunately we are still waiting in May 2022 and, understanding that I had been battling to try and be taken seriously and get support for my daughter we were asked if she would like to take part in a study into trauma in January 2022. As we had received nothing else and my daughter was struggling to cope with daily life we agreed as we felt that something was better than nothing. Unfortunately my daughter did not possess the coping strategies to deal with the study and attempted suicide for the third time in February 2022, each time going one step further in a cry for help. During the assessment at the hospital the following day with a member of the Crisis Team I had to actually tell her to stop talking over me and let me speak, my daughter feels the same way as I do when I say that she did not listen to either of us until I said that. Surely that is not productive when trying to assess the needs and mental state of the young person involved?  

As a family this has taken it's toll on us, to the point that my younger child is now struggling to cope with what has happened and is now needing support too. It is affecting schooling at a critical time in my children's academic lives as they struggle to attend, my job is now at risk because of the time off I have had to have to support my children, my children barely go out of their rooms and almost 11 weeks after the third attempt we are still being seen by the Crisis Team and not a care coordinator for the South Team. My child hardly sleeps and can go 2 or 3 days on just a couple of hours sleep in total, she did not attend school 2 days ago because her thoughts to harm herself were so bad she refused to get out of bed because she was terrified and we had to call the Crisis Team for support. The 2 team members in the Crisis Team were only supposed to offer 6 weeks support yet 11 weeks in we are still under them as they cannot get my child the support needed from the South Team yet but they are not in place for such a role. I called the South Team 2 days ago to ask if my child was being picked up yet as it is almost 2 weeks since the Crisis Team submitted an IR1 form regarding the delay in working with my child and was told that someone would call me back between 2pm and 5pm that day, over 48 hours later I am still waiting and in the meantime the Crisis medic will not do a medic review because my child is open to the South Team and it should apparently be their medic that does the review. In the meantime my child has to try and deal with her own negative thoughts on very little sleep, not a very good combination.

I have submitted my second thorough complaint to PALS regarding the service offered and will be discussing CAMHS support with my local MP in conjunction with the student support manager from my children's school as the service offered to not just my children but all young people desperately needing help is severely lacking and at a critical level. 

With the dramatic increase in a need for such an essential service something needs to change and quickly, parents and young people should not have to face such a battle to try and access help or be heard. I have only briefly skimmed the surface with the difficulties we are facing right now regarding CAMHS support, particularly within a community setting and if we are experiencing this then there has to be thousands more families in the same position. As a mother my heart is breaking every day seeing my children struggle with their mental health and feel so alone and hopeless. I just hope that I can keep my child safe whilst we wait for the support because I dread to think of the alternative.