(CAMHS) and Schools - London Health Programmes

4.4.3 Practice
Referrals come to the BASS team from schools – from head teachers, heads of years
or SENCOs. A teacher from the BASS team visits to make an assessment and the
referral is reviewed and allocated at a BASS meeting at which point they may be
passed to the CPN. The CPNs also conduct joint assessments with other members of
the BASS team. Referrals may also come via Child and Family Psychiatry from the
child’s doctor.
The CPNs conduct a range of interventions the vast majority of which take place in
school settings (an estimated 10% would be in the home). These consist of individual
work with pupils and their parents, and group work with children with identified
problems. They also conduct joint home visits with EWOs. The BASS team covers
11 secondary schools and their feeder primaries and the two CPN based in the BASS
(one post currently vacant) cover half of the area each. The interventions are
normally time-limited to a weekly session over six weeks, but can be extended when
necessary. Individual interventions include art therapy, cognitive behaviour therapy,
work on self esteem, and counselling. Parent groups were set up and run jointly with
school nurses initially in schools, but have subsequently been moved away from
schools. The group work involves social skills training and anger management
training and teachers are given support in terms of managing children’s behaviour.
One CPN who is based in a secondary school is able to provide more intensive
support. This includes running six week long social skills groups (for up to eight
children at a time) for each year group. Special support assistants and learning
mentors are involved in running these groups.
Other CAMHS support to schools includes training school nurses, including in
cognitive behaviour therapy, and regular supervision meetings with the CAMHS
team. A nursery nurse based in CAMHS conducts social skills training for children in
early years settings.
Asylum seekers.
Although this area is predominantly White British, there has been a significant
number of asylum seekers moving in to the area in recent years, and estimates vary
between 80 and 130 asylum seeking children are in the County. A CPN and an EWO
have been working together to provide a service for this vulnerable group and
proposals for enhanced support have been integrated into the most recent Behaviour
Support Plan (still in draft form for consultation). They found that asylum seekers do
not know what help is available or how to access it and that many are reluctant to
come forward as they are often wary of professionals. They realised that pro-active
work needs to be made within the refugee community to break down barriers and
raise awareness of services that are available, and have been conducting outreach
meetings with groups. One of the main issues that they have identified in the
community is that of serious trauma.