Promoting Mental Health & Wellbeing
for Children and Young People
CAMHS Service
The Community CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service) Counselling Service is provided at Community CAMHS bases in Southwick, Hendon and Washington.
It is part of an integrated CAMHS team offering support to children and young people aged 5 to 18, who are experiencing difficulties with their mental health throughout the Sunderland area.
About CAMHS
The service is staffed by qualified counsellors who provide time limited therapy for children and young people who need some support. Common themes are issues with anger, relationships, bullying, low self-esteem, identity, bereavement and loss.
The counselling can be accessed via a referral from someone in the health, education or social services fields. Unfortunately we are unable to accept self or parental referrals.
Community CAMHS Counselling adheres to City of Sunderland Council safeguarding policies and procedures, and the service is accredited with BACP (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy)
The Community CAMHS Counselling service is available from 9.00 to 5.00 from Monday to Friday. We may be able to offer some appointments slightly earlier or later than these times if necessary.
Tel: 01912831656
Schools Based Service
Sunderland Counselling Service has contracts with schools throughout the Sunderland area to offer counselling support to pupils. These schools are across a range of primary, secondary and special schools.
The service is staffed by qualified counsellors who provide time limited therapy for pupils who need some support. The counsellors discuss with the schools their specific needs and can offer a flexible range of one-to-one counselling and therapeutic groups for children and young people as well as advice to staff.
The aim is for the service to become an integrated part of the school provision.
Common themes explored are issues with transitions, stress, anger, relationships, friendships, bullying, low self-esteem, identity, bereavement and loss.
Referrals can come from school staff, parents as well as the children themselves. However, for younger pupils there needs to be parental consent.
For further information about this please contact Caroline Gardner on 0191 2831153
Good Vibes
This is a new initiative working in youth centres and community venues across Sunderland to provide mental health counselling support to children and young people aged 10-19. This is in direct response to requests by the young people and their desire for easily accessible counselling support.
The service is for young people who are currently accessing the youth provision offered. Referrals to the service can be by youth worker, parent or self referrals. However those aged 13 and under will require parental consent.
The fully trained counsellors work in conjunction with the youth provision and young people to be responsive to the needs of the area and can offer a mix of counselling and therapeutic groups.
Listening Ear Project - Support for adults with children in CAMHS
Who is it for?
A new pilot project aimed at parents and carers of children and young people who are receiving services from Community CAMHS, and who are themselves in need of short-term social, emotional, and practical support.
Many parents / carers may have support needs with their own mental health and emotional wellbeing. This may include parental anxiety about their child’s presentation and access to treatment services or other unrelated issues. This project aims to provide direct emotional support to adults living with additional challenges in their family circumstances, such as housing, financial exclusion, or their own mental health needs, and where necessary will help people to access relevant specialist services.
By taking a whole family approach, the service aims to improve parental mental health and improve outcomes for children and young people. However, the role will focus on the needs of the parent / carer and is not intended as an advocate or support role for children and young people.
The Listening Ear Support Worker can meet with parents at a time or venue suitable for their needs within normal working hours. The worker will discuss with them any issues or support they may need and then develop a plan to help them move forward. The project aims to develop awareness of and engagement with available services, by connecting people with and signposting to services and their local community as a means of support. We aim to help empower parents to access the support they need for themselves and their families.
The worker will carry out assessments of need and provide support and guidance to people who contact the service. This may include direct emotional support, signposting, providing self-help materials, a check in system, identifying a suitable package of specific support and making any necessary onward referrals.
The referrals will come from CAMHS clinicians for adults who are identified as needing support in their own right, and whose children are accessing support from CCAMHS. Unfortunately, at this time it does not cover the Mental Health Support Teams or those outside of the Sunderland area.
The worker will be based at Sunderland Counselling Service, and referrals will be taken by our admin team. The project will be able to work from a variety of locations throughout the City of Sunderland.
For more information or to refer to this service contact our admin team on: Tel: 0191 5147007
Five Ways to Well-being
Together for Children have shared some helpful ways to improve your well-being.
To find out more click the link below.
Northern Mental Help
The aim of Northern Mental Help is to help any individual or family struggling with issues of social isolation, particularly as we all struggle with the coronavirus pandemic.
"The counsellor has a high impact on student wellbeing"
Acting head teacher