Growing with You: Children Looked After (CLA) and Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking (UASC) CAMHS

Psychiatric and psychological assessments

Individual therapy – mixture of different interventions

Carer work to support placements – stand-alone intervention or alongside therapeutic work offered to the child/young person

Behaviour management support

Psycho-educational training to carers/residential care staff who are struggling to understand a child/young person’s behaviour

Consultation to relevant professionals and carers, as a space to reflect, to help with placement planning and if needed a referral to alternative resources

Groups for young people ie DBT lite, psycho education groups

Support the transition to permanent placement for a child/young person whether to an adoptive, kinship or long term foster placement

Once child is in their permanent placement offer support to carers which is then reviewed  and if needed make recommendations and support referral for longer term support

Groups for foster carers ie Non violent resistance, caring for asylum seekers

Stabilisation support to UASC ie well being group

Initial assessment of risk for UASC and signposting dependent on need, this is completed jointly with the CLA Health Team

Clinician who specialises in working with UASCs

Psychodynamically informed interventions

Working systemically with the network

Specific interventions to address trauma

EMDR – eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing. This is a psychotherapy where a person is asked to recall a traumatic event whilst the therapist directs the patient in one type of bilateral stimulation ie side to side eye movements or hand tapping.

Trauma focussed CBT – helping the person to change behaviour by addressing their thoughts or perceptions which create unhelpful views.

Narrative Exposure Therapy – A narrative approach for treating therapy

Interventions to promote attachment between children and their carers ie VIPP (Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting)  and VIG (Video Interactive Guidance)

We are highly accessible – we can meet you in a community setting and we sit in the local authority building

We are responsive acting react quickly to requests for support/advice

We offer outreach, visiting clients and providing a service outside of the building

Residential placements/foster carers can find our presence and visits helpful.

We are good at joint/collaborative working

We can be flexible, offering a diversity of approaches dependent on each child’s needs

We are good at keeping the child in mind

We help the network to manage anxiety about cases.

We have a systemic approach to support thinking.