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This leaflet gives information for parents and carers about the North Cumbria CAMHS services in Workington and Carlisle.

If you are not sure about anything in this leaflet, please ask a member of staff.

CAMHS stands for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service. Often, when we are sad, angry or worried these feelings pass after a short time. But if your child feels sad, angry or worried for a longer time then CAMHS can offer help.

CAMHS help children and young people aged 0-18 years who are finding it hard to cope with everyday life because of difficult feelings, thoughts, behaviour or relationships

Before you visit us
After your child’s referral has been accepted by CAMHS, you will be offered an appointment to come and see us. This appointment is sometimes called an assessment.

Before you visit us, it might be useful to discuss the appointment with your child and family so you can have a think about what you would like to talk about or what questions you would like to ask. It may be helpful to write things down so you
remember.

Mind have developed a list of questions you and your child might find useful to ask during the appointment:
www.mind.org.uk/for-young-people/camhs/appointments-at-camhs

You can bring someone along that you trust for support if you would find this useful.

You may receive questionnaires to complete and bring to your first appointment. The questions relate to lots of different experiences and you may feel some of the questions are more applicable to your child than others. There is no right or wrong answer so just answer the best you can.

If you do not know how to answer a question you can talk with your worker about this in your first appointment. Your child may also have a questionnaire to complete before the appointment.

When you arrive at CAMHS you will tell our receptionist that you are here.

Once you tell them your child’s name, they will book you in and let the person your child has come to see know that you have both arrived. You will be asked to take a seat in the waiting room and you may sit there for a short time. We will then invite you into one of our rooms where we can talk.

You may feel worried or nervous about coming to CAMHS for the first time, this is okay.

Families come to CAMHS for lots of different reasons. The first time you visit us we will want to get to know your child a little better and find out what problems they are experiencing.

We may also ask things like who is in their family, how they are getting on at school and what their birth and early childhood was like. This will help us know how best to support you and your child. You can ask us any questions too.

While we think it is helpful for parents and carers to be part of this discussion, we may spend some time talking alone with your child – this is completely routine and should not cause any concern.

Your appointment will usually last 90 minutes.

There are different types of professionals who you may see at CAMHS.

Mind have made a list of the professionals who typically work within CAMHS so you can learn a little bit about their roles:
www.mind.org.uk/for-young-people/camhs/who-works-at-camhs

Sometimes we may ask if a student or a new member of staff can join the appointment. You can refuse this if you want.

Sometimes there may be things your child wants to talk about that they might not want you to know. In these cases, we will keep what they tell us confidential (private).

If we are worried about your child’s safety or the safety of others then we would share this information with you though we would always aim to talk with your child about this first where appropriate.

At the end of the appointment, we will talk through what happens next. It may be that we offer you another appointment to gain more information to decide how best to help.

Sometimes we will advise you another organisation may be better able to help your child and we will support you to get help from them.

If we feel that we are the best service to help your child then there may be a wait until you are offered support. We would ask that if you feel your child is getting worse to contact our CAMHS team manager to let us know.

The Universal Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment Team (CRHT) are available 24/7 to support your child if they are experiencing a mental health crisis. They can also provide advice and support to your family.

Call on NHS 111 and select the mental health option.

This service is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You’ll speak to a mental health professional who will listen and help you find the right support.

If you are Deaf or have communication difficulties, you can contact us in a crisis by:

We would ask you to call 999 or visit your nearest A&E in case of an emergency.

Staff can arrange an interpreter if you need one.

• Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) West Cumbria
Park Lane Clinic, Park Lane, Workington, Cumbria, CA14 2RR
Telephone: 01900 705 800

• Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) East Cumbria
Fairfield Centre, Carleton Clinic, Cumwhinton Drive, Carlisle CA1 3SX
Telephone: 01228 603 017

You can talk to a staff member or use the contacts listed below. See other ways to give feedback.

Your Voice

You can use this email to tell us what you think about your care. This can be good or bad. You can also ask us to tell you what happens after you send feedback.

Email: yourvoice@cntw.nhs.uk

Comments and complaints

If something went wrong, please tell us. This will help us improve services.

Email: complaints@cntw.nhs.uk
Telephone: 0191 245 6672
Write to: Complaints Department, Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust, St Nicholas Hospital, Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE3 3XT.

Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS)

PALS offer a free, confidential service. They can help if you are worried about your care. They support patients, families and carers.

PALS North of Tyne
(services in Newcastle, North Tyneside, Northumberland and North Cumbria)
Email: pals@nhct.nhs.uk
Telephone: 0800 032 0202

PALS South of Tyne
(services in Sunderland, Gateshead, South Tyneside and Lotus Ward, Middlesbrough)
Email: pals@cntw.nhs.uk
Telephone: 0800 328 4397

You can get more information about this leaflet from the Patient Information Centre. This includes how the leaflet was made. We can provide this leaflet in other formats. These include Braille, audio, large print, Easy Read, British Sign Language, and other languages.

We welcome your feedback about this leaflet. You can email pic@cntw.nhs.uk

Published by the Patient Information Centre
2026 Copyright: Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust

Ref: PIC/867/1126 November 2026 V7
Review date 2029

Website: www.cntw.nhs.uk – Telephone: 0191 246 6800