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Early Years (0-7 years)

This page is under development 

Early Years CAMHS provides early intervention, prevention and direct support for parents and their babies and young children from 0-6 years old (up to 7th birthday). Our service aims to support parents, babies and young children, promote positive parent-child relationships, and support young children’s emotional well-being and mental health. 

Who we support​

Parents and carers meet with us for many different reasons. We can help with issues relating to the social and emotional development of a baby or young child under 7 years old, or where the parent has concerns about their relationship with their baby or young child.​

We offer direct support for families who need specialist help and work closely with your family’s Health Visitor, Flying Start worker or School Nurse.​

How can we help?​

Your first step to getting support for a concern about your baby or young child’s emotional development, or with your relationship with your baby or young child, would be to speak to your Health Visitor. Your Health Visitor will help to understand your concerns and support you to access support within the community around you.​

Your Health Visitor, Flying Start worker or School Nurse is able to speak to the Early Years CAMHS Service for advice, support and training to support their care for your family. Early Years CAMHS also offers this support to other professionals, such as social workers, parenting workers, and schools/nurseries.​

Where problems continue after you have had support, we may offer to meet with your family together with professionals supporting you, such as your Health Visitor.​

This may lead to either joint therapeutic support with professionals involved in your care, or direct assessment and therapeutic intervention delivered by a member of the Early Years CAMHS Team.​

We work closely with other Health teams including Community Paediatricians, Preschool Development Team, Speech and Language Therapy, Neurodevelopmental Team.​

Who is in the team (roles)​:

The Early Years CAMHS Team works closely with the Health Visiting and Flying Start teams. ​There are different members of the Early Years CAMHS team that you may meet, this includes:​

  • Senior Clinical Psychologists
  • Early Years CAMHS Health Visitor
  • CAMHS Practitioner​
  • Early Years Practitioner
  • Child Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist 
  • Assistant Psychologists​

Assessment​

If you are invited for an assessment appointment, we would usually meet with you at a Flying Start Family Centre or at the Wrexham Maelor Child Health Centre. This depends on where you live.​

This appointment will last for around 1.5 hours. During this appointment we hope to provide a kind, safe and supportive experience where we can develop an understanding together about your concerns or worries about your child. We will then discuss a plan of support and offer some advice.​

During this appointment we would like to get to know you and your child, hear about your child’s strengths, and think through your concerns about your child.​

It is through your relationship with your child that they learn about themselves, their feelings, relationships and the world around them. So, our assessment will give you a supportive space to reflect on your relationship with your child, along with your family life from before pregnancy to now.​

We will spend some time with you and your baby to play. For children who are older, we will spend some time with your child to understand their development through play.​

The assessment is consent based, and we will provide a supportive space respecting what you feel comfortable to talk about. We understand that sometimes families have been through difficult or upsetting experiences and provide a supportive and non-judgemental space to discuss these experiences, if you feel comfortable to do so.​

We then discuss the assessment with the Early Years CAMHS multidisciplinary team and will send you a letter in the post briefly summarising the assessment and a plan for next steps.​

Intervention​

If we decide with you that it would be helpful for us to meet with you for therapeutic support. We will contact you to arrange an appointment to discuss the therapeutic intervention and arrange a set number of appointments. These appointments will usually take place in a Flying Start Family Centre or at Wrexham Maelor Child Health Centre.

Frequently Asked Questions 

Where do I go? How do I tell you I have arrived?

This will be depending on the area where you live as we use a number of community settings including Flying Start bases. There will be a receptionist at the base who will notify your Early Years CAMHS clinician that you have arrived. 

Do I need to bring anything to my appointment?

The appointment letter will tell you if you are to bring your child or if it is just for you as their parent or caregiver. You do not need to bring anything else to the appointment. 

​​Can I bring something comforting to my appointment?

Yes of course, if that would be helpful for you. We are happy to take breaks or make adjustments to the appointment if needed, please let us know.​

Is it a confidential service?​

Yes. We only share information with other services where you have agreed, or if we have concerns about the safety of a child or adult. We would aim to discuss this with you if this was the case.