CAMHS are the NHS services that assess and treat young people like you if you’re struggling with poor mental health.
CAMHS is made up of lots of local services across the UK. Services are different across England and Wales and not all of them offer the same support. But generally, CAMHS can support you with lots of different mental health difficulties and conditions, like:
You may also hear CAMHS called:
In Wales, it’s usually called Specialist Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (SCAMHS).
CAMHS is made up of lots of different types of mental health professionals. You might work with nurses, therapists, counsellors, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers and more.
Your CAMHS team will decide your treatment and support, but they should also ask you what you’d prefer and what makes you feel most comfortable. They offer lots of different types of treatment, like:
Therapy sessions that use art, music, drama or play to help you express difficult feelings.
Getting help from CAMHS might be different depending on where you live. You can look up information about your local CAMHS on their website.
For most CAMHS services, you’ll need a referral from your doctor, school, or any other professional who is supporting you. Some local services allow you to refer yourself if you’re above a certain age.
Once you’ve made your referral, CAMHS will get in touch with you by email, letter or phone to arrange an appointment or ask you more questions. If you don’t hear back, you can contact CAMHS for an update. It can be a very long wait for CAMHS so it’s important to look for help elsewhere while you wait.
Sometimes, CAMHS might decide they’re not the right service for you. This could be because:
It’s tough when you’ve waited for help and don’t get it. This doesn’t mean you don’t need or deserve support. If CAMHS can’t help, they should suggest other services or resources that can. There are also lots of helplines and organisations you can turn to for help.
At your first appointment, you’ll meet a mental health professional from the CAMHS team. They’ll ask you some questions about how you’re feeling, your medical history and any mental health difficulties or diagnoses you’ve had. They may also do some health checks, like taking your pulse or doing blood tests. The questions might not all seem relevant. But they all help your team to get a full picture of your mental health.
The session will usually last fifty minutes to one hour. At the end of your appointment, CAMHS should be able to tell you if they can help you, what support they can offer and how long you’ll need to wait until you start your treatment. This is a good time to ask any questions you have.
Your CAMHS team will usually talk to your parents or carers to understand more about you and your home life. They might also discuss what help CAMHS can offer you or ask your parents to join appointments. This all helps to provide the best support for you.
Having your parents or carers involved can help you to feel more supported. They can help you with things like getting to your appointments, talking to your school and communicating your needs. But you might also be worried about having them involved, especially if you have a difficult relationship with them or are struggling at home.
If you don’t want your parents or carers to come to appointments, let your CAMHS team know. It may be possible to not have them involved, but this depends on your age and the type of support you’re getting. It’s a good idea to ask your CAMHS team what things can be kept private and what things will need to be shared with your parents/carers. That way you can feel more comfortable sharing at appointments.
If your parents aren’t involved, it’s still a good idea to have some support. Speak to a friend, partner or trusted adult about what’s happening at CAMHS so they can help.
If you have access needs, you may be able to get the following support at appointments depending on your local service.
If you or your parents/carers are not confident speaking in English, CAMHS can provide an interpreter to help with communication.
CAMHS has a service specifically for Deaf young people. The specialists working within Deaf CAMHS use British Sign Language (BSL). You can access Deaf CAMHS if you or your parents/carers are Deaf or hearing impaired.
CAMHS can make adjustments for physical disabilities, like wheelchair access or seating arrangements. You may also be able to request phone or video appointments.
Being prepared can help you relax and feel more confident before your first appointment. Here are some tips to help you get ready:
Write stuff down
Talk to trusted people
Plan ahead
Make time for fun
Here are some you might want to ask at your first appointment:
You might prefer to go to your appointment without any questions ready. That’s also fine – your therapist will probably give you information on the most important topics anyway.
There’s no pressure to go into detail about any topics that you find upsetting in your first appointment, but try to be as honest as possible. This will help the team know how best to support you. Here are some helpful things to tell them:
CAMHS can be really busy. This means that they have very long waiting times for appointments and treatment. When they get your referral, they should give you an idea of how long you’ll have to wait, but this could be a while.
This can be frustrating, and it’s really tough when you need the support. But there are things you can do, and people who can help, while you wait.
Try journaling or keeping a diary. This can help you process what you’re feeling. It’s also a good way to prepare for your CAMHS appointment.
After your first appointment, the type of appointments you have moving forward will depend on your local service, as well as the kind of difficulties you’re experiencing with your mental health. You might meet in person or have phone or video calls. If you’re getting weekly therapy, some sessions could be in-person and others online or over the phone.
If you’re not comfortable with your appointment type, ask for a different one. You can speak to CAMHS reception staff or the person you talk to at appointments.
Where you get support will depend on the type of support you are offered. Lots of places offer mental health support including:
You might also be able to get support at home.
If the support you need is available, you should be able to get support for as long as you need it, but this does sometimes depend on how many other young people are waiting for help. Sometimes a few sessions are enough, but you might need help for longer.
You’ll be involved in deciding how much support you need. Your support needs might change if:
Once your treatment starts, you can still ask questions about your appointments and treatment so that you’re comfortable with what's going on. Here are some questions you might want to ask.
If your treatment involves medication, here are some questions you may want to ask:
We have lots of advice about getting and taking different medications in our guides.
Leaving CAMHS can be scary. It might be that you no longer need support because you and your team think you’re well enough to leave. Or perhaps you still need support but you’re now too old for CAMHS. If this is the case, you’ll transition to adult mental health services (AMHS).
Whatever happens, your CAMHS team should be there to support you and let you know what to expect.
CAMHS services should support you until you’re 18, but this could be different depending on where you live. Some local services will start your transition to adult services at 16 and others will support you until you’re 25.
If you’re unsure when you’ll have to leave CAMHS, ask your CAMHS team. If you think they’ve discharged you too early, speak to the person managing your care.
Being discharged means your support is ending. This is good news. It means you’ve made lots of progress in your journey to recovery, and now you and your team feel you can manage on your own. This can happen at any age.
Before you leave, your team should give you information on what to do if your mental health gets worse again and direct you to other types of support.
If you’re not happy with their choice to discharge you, talk to your CAMHS team. We also have more information below on what to do if you’re not happy with your CAMHS experience.
If you have to leave CAMHS because you’ve turned 18, your care team will refer you to adult mental health services (AMHS) for a first appointment. AMHS will then decide if their service is right for you.
To do this, they might look at your medical notes, speak to your CAMHS team and parents/carers, and meet with you to find out what support you need. If they think AMHS can offer you support, they’ll contact you to make an appointment. Your CAMHS worker can help you prepare for any conversations with AMHS and for your first appointment. They may even offer to attend and support you.
There might be a wait before AMHS look at your referral. Waiting times depend on your area and the type of support you need, but they’re often long, just like with CAMHS. Even once AMHS accepts your referral, you could still face delays in starting treatment. This can be frustrating, especially if you were making progress with CAMHS. Our guide to self-care can help while you wait.
You might find that AMHS feels a bit different from CAMHS. Some young people find that:
If you’re finding the move from CAMHS to AMHS difficult, here are some tips to help:
Before you make the move, ask your CAMHS team for as much information as possible. Also tell them what’s important for your care that you’d like to continue.
Talk to your friends and family about how they can support you and how you’re feeling. It’s important to ask for help when you need it.
Organisations like Childline have helplines, email services and webchats that can support you.
No matter what support you’re getting, you should always expect fair treatment from CAMHS. They should always:
If you’re unhappy with your experience at CAMHS, let your team know so you can try and agree on what you need. You could ask for:
Being treated unfairly because of your race, gender, disability or sexuality is never okay.
If you think you’ve experienced discrimination within CAMHS, you should always speak up. Start by speaking to someone in your CAMHS team.
You can also contact your local PALS (Patient Advice Liaison Service) at your hospital for confidential advice and support.
If they don’t listen, you can make a formal complaint. Find out how below.
If you’ve tried speaking with a member of your CAMHS team and you’re still unhappy with how things have been handled, you can make a formal complaint. Here’s how:
You can complain by post, email, or phone. You can also use a BSL interpreter if needed. Make sure to include your name, contact info, and details about the service you’re complaining about.
Send your complaint to the NHS or to your local CAMHS.
The NHS should reply within three working days and keep you updated during their investigation. You’ll receive a written response once the investigation is complete.
If you're not happy with the results of your complaint, you can contact the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman. You can also write to your MP who can complain on your behalf. If none of this works, you could speak to a solicitor about your options for taking legal action against CAMHS.
If you can’t get help from CAMHS or you’re on a waiting list, these organisations and helplines can support you while you wait.
If you’re under 19 you can confidentially call, chat online or email about any problem big or small.
Sign up for a free Childline locker (real name or email address not needed) to use their free 1-2-1 counsellor chat and email support service.
Can provide a BSL interpreter if you are deaf or hearing-impaired.
Hosts online message boards where you can share your experiences, have fun and get support from other young people in similar situations.
Whatever you're going through, you can contact the Samaritans for support. N.B. This is a listening service and does not offer advice or intervention.
Provides support to anyone aged 16+ who is feeling down and needs to talk or find information.
Free webchat service available.
Read information about the helpline and how it works.
This page was last reviewed in March 2025.
It was co-created with young people with lived experience of CAMHS.
We will next review the page in 2028.
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