CAMHS Sefton

About CAMHS Sefton

The dedicated and specialist team provide access to assessment and intervention up to the age of 18; with appointments held at Burlington House, Waterloo, and Southport Wellbeing Centre.

The team is multi-disciplinary, which means our clinicians come from a range of clinical and professional backgrounds.

The service works with the young people, parents, carers and partner agencies to make sure that the right care is provided to each individual, depending on their needs and circumstances.

You can find out about the different types of therapists on the Sefton Liverpool CAMHS

Our statement on young people with additional needs

At CAMHS we understand that anyone can experience mental health difficulties and we want to support any child or young person where Specialist CAMHS intervention will be of help. We understand that for some young people with learning disabilities and/ or neurodevelopmental conditions coming to clinic appointments may be a challenge or may not be suitable at all. We would still encourage referrals for young people with additional needs as we can make reasonable adjustments to support their access to the service and will work closely with the individuals who know the young person the best such as family, school staff and other health care professionals involved in their support.

Text message support feature for children and young people

Shout 85258 is a free, confidential, 24/7 text message support service for anyone who is feeling overwhelmed or is struggling to cope. The service is staffed by trained volunteers who will work with you to take your next steps towards feeling better. We can help with issues such as stress, anxiety and depression and are here to talk at any time of day or night. Text GREEN to 85258 for immediate support.

Sometimes it’s hard to make sense of your thoughts and behaviours and how you are feeling. In this section, you can use our guides to find out more about what support is available to you in the Sefton CAMHS resources section.

We know that it can be really tough to support a young person with a mental health difficulty and to know what to do to help them. We want to help make this easier for you so we invite to have a look at our support network for parents of young people who have had sessions with CAMHS or are on the waiting list for CAMHS.

 Follow Sefton CAMHS on Twitter!

Former CAMHS patients tell their stories – Courtesy of BBC North West 

The Camhelions at Alder Hey

The Camhelions is a way for young people to participate in service improvements within Sefton and Alder Hey. The Camhelions ensure your voice and opinions are listened to, to make a positive change. By joining us it’s a great opportunity to talk to other people around your age and take part in different and interesting projects and help make improvements to the service for other young people. For information on how to join the Camhelions, please contact the team at [email protected]. Be sure to follow Camhelions on Twitter too @camhelions.

Make a Referral  

Sefton & Liverpool CAMHS services aim to promote the mental health and wellbeing of all children, young people, families and carers. This platform provides you with useful resources to support mental health and wellbeing for children and young people. It also allows young people 14 and over, parents / carers and professionals to make referrals to Sefton & Liverpool CAMHS services. Find more information and support at on the CAHMS website.

What happens at the choice appointment?  

The ‘Choice’ appointment is an initial meeting between a Sefton CAMHS clinician, the young person and/or their family/guardians. The choice appointment aims to get to know the child/young person and to get a good idea of why they, or others, might be worried about emotional wellbeing.

The meeting can last about an hour so that the clinician can explore a situation thoroughly in order to try to understand who is best placed to meet needs of the young person and the family. This could be Sefton CAMHS or various community partners such as The Venus Centre, Addvanced Solutions and Parenting 2000.

Being on the waiting list

We know that there can be a gap between having a referral accepted and beginning sessions with us. If you go to the one-stop shop health platform at Sefton CAMHS, you will find several resources to explore whilst you wait to be seen by us.

If you’re a parent, you can check the Fresh+ support group for parents.

If you’re a young person, you can have a look at how to get involved with The Camhelions and interact with other young people who currently on their CAMHS journey.

Partnership treatment sessions

Following the Choice appointment, there will be a period of waiting before beginning sessions with us at Sefton CAMHS. These sessions are known as Partnership appointments, referring to the course of treatment for the young person. A CAMHS clinician will be assigned as a case manager who will work collaboratively with the young person and family to meet therapeutic goals.

What are Routine Outcome Measure questionnaires?

During your time with CAMHS, you may be asked to complete questionnaires known as ROMS. These questionnaires explore various factors which are particularly important within a mental health context e.g., relationships, appetite, sleep and restlessness.

It is really important for these to be completed so that sessions between  the young person/family and clinician, are as  collaborative as possible   For example, the clinician can talk to you about the questionnaire results and ask for your thoughts in order to work together on improving results Some of these questionnaires have to be completed by the young person whilst others have to be completed by parents/guardians.  The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and the Revised Children’s Anxiety Depression scale are examples of common measures provided by a clinician.

Care Plan

This is the plan for what we can deliver for you, and how frequently we can contact you and/or offer appointments. This will include any therapy you are receiving, as well as crisis contacts and risk/safety plan if needed.   In most situations, we will discuss with you issues that have arisen between contacts at your next planned contact.

If you want to share information with your case manager between appointments, please email the information (avoiding identifiable information) to [email protected] – your case manager will read this information and discuss at your next planned appointment.

Your case manager is the clinician who is responsible for your overall care.  If you do not know who your case manager is, please contact the department on the details above.  If you feel that you need to speak to someone urgently before your next planned appointment, then please contact the Crisis Care team who will support – 0808 196 3550 (freephone) or 0151 293 3577.

Planned Appointments

Sefton CAMHS is a planned therapy service.  This means that all our appointments are booked in advance, and we book to capacity to try to ensure we can meet with as many people as we can.  What this also means though is that we have very limited time in between appointments and so we are not always able to respond between planned appointments. Of course, we appreciate there are exceptions and that you might want to speak to your case manager before the next appointment.  This will be offered if we can; we will try to get back to you within a week of your call or email.  If you need a same or next day response, please contact the Crisis Care Team.

If you do not agree with the frequency of your appointments, this can be discussed with your case manager, however, will be based on what is clinically required.

Contact with the service

We are not able to ensure safe monitoring of staff mobiles if staff are poorly or on leave, so we are unable to provide these numbers as a form of contact.  The best number to contact the team is our main telephone number: 0151 282 4527.  We understand there have been some challenges with contacting the office but we now conduct regular phone audits so any issues will be addressed.

If your concern is clinically urgent and you feel need a response before your next appointment, or an earlier appointment is required, please contact the Crisis Care Team.

Medication

Children and young people need to be supported to maintain their medication regime. Your child’s Psychiatrist will initiate prescribing, if indicated, after a thorough assessment and informed discussion with you and your child.  In most circumstances, your Psychiatrist will issue the first prescription and then write to your GP.  Many GPs are happy to continue to issue repeat prescriptions while your child remains under CAMHS for regular reviews.  We would therefore ask you in the first circumstance to contact your GP for repeat prescriptions and only contact us for prescriptions if you experience difficulties with your GP. In these circumstances, please ensure you contact our admin team 14 days before medication is required on 0151 282 4527. This will ensure we can prescribe and post out prescriptions in a timely manner.

Eating Disorders

The Eating Disorder Young Person Service (EDYs) provides treatment to children and young people with anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and eating disorders not otherwise specified (EDNOS).  This dedicated community-based service provides timely intervention to multi-disciplinary assessment and intervention across Liverpool and Sefton.

Further information, including contact details and how to refer, is available by going to our Eating Disorders page.

Parent Advice Liaison Service (PALS)

More than anything, we want what we do to be the very best that can be done. If you are unhappy about any aspect of treatment or service you and your child has received from Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, we want to know. Please tell us.

PALS is the Patient Advice and Liaison Service. It’s here to help sort out questions and concerns you may have.

PALS also helps the NHS to improve services by listening to what matters to patients and their families and making changes when appropriate. PALS will also advise you about making a complaint and refer you to the Complaints Service. To find out more, get in touch with PALS.

Contact us 

Sefton CAMHS Telephone – 0151 282 4527

[email protected] or [email protected]

Crisis Care Team - Available 24/7 on   

0808 196 3550 or 0151 293 3577.

Main Address 

2nd Floor, Burlington House,
Crosby Road North,
Liverpool,
L22 0PJ 

Telephone: 0151 282 4527 

Southport Centre for Health and Wellbeing
44-46 Hoghton Street,
Southport,
PR9 0PQ 

Telephone: 01704 385 112 

[email protected]  or [email protected]  

In addition, Alder Hey CAMHS can be contacted by email at [email protected] if you are having difficulty contacting the department.

Accessibility and Parking 

Burlington House: Please enter via the North entrance. Limited parking spaces are available at Burlington House. Otherwise, spaces are available at Alder Park (Dewi Jones) which is located on Park Road, next door to Burlington House.

Southport Centre for Health and Wellbeing: limited (free) parking spaces are available on site. Pay and display on street parking is also available.