Belfast (CAMHS) - Step 2 and 3

Primary Mental Health Service supports children and young people between 0-18 years of age. It is a specific service for ‘prevention and intervention’ working on a shorter time frame with mild to moderate mental health issues. The team is based at 10 college gardens but work from health centres/GP surgeries & youth centres to better access young people and families across the Belfast area Referrals can be made via GPs, Acute Teams, Hospital, School, Social Worker etc. SELF REFERRALS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. Everybody is different so regardless of your race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, religion or ability, you should be able to get the right sort of help in response to your individual needs when you are having problems. CAMHS is available locally and has links with other services that might be able to help you, for example, schools, social services, family centres and other community based/youth services. CAMHS works with these services to make sure you receive the care that you need. There are lots of different staff – including doctors, psychiatrists, nurses, clinical psychologists, social workers, primary mental health workers and other family therapists in the team. When a referral is made, the professionals within the CAMHS team discuss the information provided by the person who has referred you. They decide who is best placed to help you and how soon you may be seen. Sometimes the team might decide another service is more appropriate to provide you with help and support. If this happens they will let the referrer know (that is the person who asked CAMHS to see you) so that they can discuss this with you. If you need immediate medical help you should contact your GP surgery. If it is outside normal hours the GP answering machine will give you an emergency contact number or go to the A&E department at your local hospital. Finally you can also phone the out of hours emergency duty team to contact a social worker. The out of hours emergency social work service operates at the following times: Monday - Friday from 5pm to 9am Saturday and Sunday - 24 hours Public holidays - 24 hours To contact the service, telephone: 028 9056 5444 Your call will be answered by a telephonist who will ask you your name and telephone number. Your call will then be passed to one of the social workers who will seek further details and you will then be asked about the nature of the emergency. Other useful Contacts: The Samaritans on 08457 909090 Lifeline Helpline on 0808 808 8000 The Child and Family Clinic is based at Royal Victoria Hospital, 182 Falls Road, Belfast, Telephone : 028 9063 2100