Calderdale Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) Tier 3 - South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

She had art therapy then was ditched, then after a letter from my doctor she was picked up again and diagnosed with ASD at 16 years. The psychiatrist pushed medication at her eventhough she said no. He seemed more bothered about her weight and kept telling her that the anti depressants would curb her eating. My daughter was distraught at this and made it clear she was terrified of the side effects of the anti depressants but still he pushed...and pushed...so I ended up getting her a prescription just to shut him up. She never took them. She has anxiety and depression on top of the ASD - he was no help at all but her therapist was fantastic.

My child has been referred to the service in October 2016 and at the end of May 2017 I have no idea when he will be seen. People expect waiting times - we know services are stretched - but it would be helpful to have an idea about how long they will wait. His lack of assessment means other services won't get involved. It's not fair on him.

Nicky in the OT team is amazing, so supportive and offers such good advice.

the lady we saw was brilliant I'm positive now that we are going to get the help we need to support our daughter

Getting CAMHS to see your child and accept a referral in the first place is a huge mountain to climb. So many children don't meet their criteria. Many families are at crisis point when they contact CAMHS only to be turned away. The people you speak to on the phone are really rude and unhelpful. Waiting times are really bad. Notes taken about my child at tier three could not be accessed by tier two which was ridiculous. Once we got through the system, the lady we saw fir cbt therapy was very nice.

Too long of a wait between appointments.
Little information given on where we are in terms of what to expect or do in the meantime.
Feeling lost on a difficult journey.

Referred by GP in July 2016. Escalated to tier 3 in October 2016 and it is June 2017 tomorrow. That's nearly a year so far without seeing anyone from CAMHS at all. Disgusting treatment of a four/five year old. Early intervention is key. This needs sorting for Calderdale. Oh and Tier 3 have no email address either which makes communication tricky with a highly strung child.
I am sure the staff are very good when you finally get to see them. More investment needed.

My children both display very obvious signs of ASD but they dont fit the tick box criteria set out by CAMHS so we received no help after a very long wait to see CAMHS.We are back to square one with no help and same issues ) :

Waiting times too long for ASD diagnosis, after therapy not good enough and CAMHS should be trained in spotting ASD but despite several years therapy there they missed it !!!

Long waiting lists and notes not shared effectively between tier 2 and tier 3