In the process of moving through various fruitless pathways, triage panels, courses, appointments, single assessments...the months become years. The years become a childhood...a childhood that is less valued, less happy, less free from worry for children in North East Lincolnshire. The CCG has assured me that CAMHS is a service of award-winning quality, yet my own recent experience of them has been most unsatisfactory.
If you have:
- struggled to access CAMHS services for your child
- been batted away by the Triage Team almost as soon as a professional has referred you in
- experienced a total lack of child-centred care and compassion
- are suspicious of the diagnosis that CAMHS has given your child
- believe that CAMHS is deliberately avoiding a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders
- unable to access CAMHS services for the management of your child's ADHD condition
- if you are SICK TO DEATH of worrying about your child's mental health
please sign this petition! The comments box has been added so that you can describe the problems you have encountered using CAMHS. You may need to sign the petition first and add comments afterwards, because you do not technically have the right to comment until your signature has been added. If you can relate your own difficulties with CAMHS, it will be so important. It will distinguish your story from being anecdotal, to being "real life", and will help drive the change we desperately need. If you have had negative experiences with certain members of CAMHS staff, this is your opportunity to push for reform.
We ask North East Lincs Council to:
- Engage with CAMHS to bring about structural reforms that let children in, instead of rejecting them.
- Ensure that CAMHS provides a robust, measurable and transparent ASD diagnostic service that is child-centred and works for our children.
- Place a finite limit on the amount of parenting courses and sleep programmes that a family has to undergo (across all agencies) before CAMHS undertake a thorough screening/diagnosis of underlying neurological condition such as ADHD/ASD.
- Bring to book CAMHS professionals found guilty of suppressing or manipulating ASD or ADHD diagnoses.
