Care Experienced Young People Psychology Service

Our CEYP team provides dedicated service to children, young people and their carers when they are living away from their biological family in a foster or residential placement, or in an adoptive family. Part of our team is commissioned by The Highland Council, to support the wellbeing of care experienced young people and to help maintain young people in placements in Highland.

Care Experienced Young People can access all CAMH services, as required. The CEYP team provide a range of services designed to support the understanding of mental health needs and how these can be met by all of the important people in a child/young person’s life. We work firmly within a trauma informed and responsive framework, in line with the principles of The Promise and hold the importance of relationships at the centre of our ethos and approach. With that in mind, we always attend to the relationships children and young people have with important adults, as it is within these relationships that recovery from traumatic and abusive experiences can occur. We do this through:

  • Consultation with staff teams, carers and parents to support their understanding of young people’s needs and how they can care for them in a developmental, attachment and trauma informed way

  • Consultation with professional networks to contribute to multi-agency understanding and response to needs and to support decision making and care planning

  • Individual assessment and intervention with carers and parents, when caring for a child or young person becomes challenging

  • Offering training to carers/parents and staff teams on developmental trauma and therapeutic care

We also support children and young people directly when we believe the challenges they face would benefit from an assessment and intervention from our team. Often we include carers and parents in this process.

If you are a professional and are worried about the mental health of a CEYP, please get in touch to discuss your concerns – you can call us on 01463 705597 and ask to speak with one of the CEYP team. You can also email us on nhshighland.phoenixcentre@nhs.scot, FAO CEYP team. We may not be able to respond immediately, but will do so as soon as possible. If your concern requires a quicker response, you can also ask to speak with our general CAMHS duty clinician.

If you are a carer/parent, we would advise that you discuss your concerns with a relevant professional who can assist you in considering who is best placed to help – this might be your supporting Social Worker, the child’s Social Worker, or their head teacher/guidance teacher at school. You can also visit your GP. We cannot discuss/give advice about children who have not been referred to us.

If you are a child/young person, we would suggest you discuss your concerns with a trusted adult, who can help you work out what kind of support you need and how to access it.

 

Charities and Resources

  • Who Cares Scotland

    Supporting care experienced kids to claim thier rights, influence politics, and build belonging.

  • The Promise

    Scotland made a promise to care experienced children and young people: You will grow up loved, safe and respected. And by 2030, that promise must be kept.