FCAMH
East of England Community Forensic Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (FCAMHS)
Information for Families / Carers
You may have already had a child in your care referred to FCAMHS or you may know that a referral is planned. Here is some information to help you understand our service and what to expect. We also have a variety of leaflets available to download. Please contact us to access these.
Forensic CAMHS (FCAMHS) is a specialist mental health service that is available to children under the age of 18. We accept referrals from professionals when there is:
- A concern about the child’s mental health; and,
- High-risk behaviour that is causing concern.
Children do not need to have had contact with the police to be seen by our service. We are a service that supports the professionals that are involved with children to help to improve the outcome and try to minimise the risk. We do not take referrals directly from parents or carers.
We are a multidisciplinary team, including:
- A child and adolescent forensic psychiatrist
- Psychologists
- A mental health nurse
- A social worker
We also have a peer support worker (a person with lived experience) on the team who supports children and their families. You may also speak with one of our two team administrators or our service manager during your interaction with FCAMHS.
What area does FCAMHS cover?
We provide a service to children living in, or who are originally from, the following areas:
- Bedfordshire
- Cambridgeshire
- Essex
- Hertfordshire
- Norfolk
- Suffolk
What we do
FCAMHS work in a number of ways (depending on the needs of the child):
- Giving advice to professionals
- Working with multiple agencies
- Meeting with professionals and the child’s family/carers
- We sometimes meet with the child to complete an assessment.
- We don’t meet with every child who is referred to us. FCAMHS will work with the professionals involved to consider the child’s mental health and how to best manage the risk. We will make suggestions to relevant professionals in relation to this. If possible, we will discuss these plans with the family/carers and the child.
How we will talk to you?
We may contact you by phone, meet with you in person and/or send you letters.
What might we ask you?
- Information about your child's early years of life and their current issues;
- Other matters specific to the case; and
- We may ask you for consent to contact other professionals, depending on the circumstances of your child's case.
Who we speak to and why
In the event that a professional simply calls us for advice, we send a summary advice to that professional and no one else. If a professional contact us and we are worried, we will send a copy of our summary advice to your child's GP. At that point, you may not know that we have been contacted about your child. We send a copy of all our advice to your child's GP throughout our involvement.
More information
A carer is anyone, including children and adults who looks after a family member, partner or friend who needs help because of their illness, frailty, disability, a mental health problem or an addiction and cannot cope without their support. The care they give is unpaid.
At Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, we value the often life-long support carers provide and recognise them as equal care partners. We want to offer as much guidance and reassurance as possible, to help you in your caring role. You can find general information and support for adult carers, young carers and parent carers by following this link.
Please use the information below to contact our service or for more information including PALs click contact us:
T: 0300 3009300
E: cpm-tr.FCAMHS@nhs.net
If your child/young person needs urgent help?
- If it’s an emergency and someone’s life is at risk, phone 999.
- If it’s not a 999 emergency but you need help fast: dial 111
- If you live in Peterborough or Cambridgeshire and you are registered with a GP, you can access the First Response service by dialling 111 and then pressing option 2.
Further information
FCAMHS Leaflet - Parent & Carer.pdf [pdf] 1MB
As a patient, relative or carer using our services, sometimes you may need to turn to someone for help, advice, and support.