Children and Young Peoples' Mental Health Service (CYPMHS) inpatient unit for West Yorkshire

Who I am

Hello, I’m Tania Webb the Family Ambassador for West Yorkshire. I support parents and carers throughout their young person’s admission to Red Kite View, and up to four weeks after discharge. I have direct knowledge and understanding, through lived experience as a parent of a young person who has been admitted to mental health inpatient care.

What is a Family Ambassador?

The Family Ambassador is a non-clinical role, and they work alongside parents and carers of young people admitted to mental health inpatient care. Parents and carers have a unique perspective on the needs of their young person. The Family Ambassador supports parents and carers to be partners in their young person’s care, working together with the clinical teams, ensuring their young person’s needs are at the centre of all decision making.

A Family Ambassador will:

• Provide information to parents and carers to help them understand what happens when their young person is admitted to mental health inpatient care.
• Let parents and carers know what to expect at each of the following stages:
  • Pre-admission
  • Admission
  • During their young person’s stay
  • Discharge
• Make sure that parents and carers are heard, treated as partners, and that their unique perspective forms part of the decision-making.
• Work alongside their young person’s clinical team
• Connect parents and carers of young people admitted elsewhere with the relevant local Family Ambassador.

My aims:

As a Family Ambassador I want to support parents and carers through some of the challenges they are faced with, when their young person is admitted into mental health inpatient care. It’s a hugely difficult and emotional time for parents and carers and I can help with understanding and preparing for meetings, signposting to other useful services, sharing knowledge of the local area, provide a listening ear, and help answer any questions.

 

How to contact me:

Email: tania.webb@nhs.net
Telephone: 07980 957982

Read more about the family ambassador programme on the eLearning for healthcare website.

 

 

So that we can understand the difficulties your child is experiencing and provide them with the best support, there will be a period of assessment and treatment so we can get to know you better.  We like to involve family or carers in this as much as possible, this may including completing some questionnaires and meeting with members of the team.  

We will work with your child to plan their care and their named nurse will write a care plan which explains what we are trying to achieve.

Review meetings will take place every week, where you and your child can discuss with us your thoughts and feelings about how things are progressing and help us make decisions about your ongoing care and treatment.  You will be invited to complete a feedback form each week so that we can better understand your experiences.

Care Planning Meetings (CPAs) are held around once a month.  You and your child will be invited to attend these along with any other professionals involved in their care outside of the unit.  These meetings are an opportunity for you to share your thoughts and feelings to the team regarding your child’s care.

Parents and carers may also be invited to attend Family Therapy sessions, if this is part of your child’s care plan.

Consultant psychiatrist

A consultant psychiatrist (a medical doctor) will be the young person’s Responsible Clinician and will have overall responsibility for their care during the admission, as well as being involved in prescribing/reviewing medication and Mental Health Act assessments.

The nursing team

The nursing team provide day-to-day support during admission. They work with young people to develop and update care plans for treatment at Red Kite View, offer 1-1 time, support with medication, activities and leave.

Occupational Therapy

Occupational Therapy provides support to young people at Red Kite View, with any difficulties that affect their ability to do the things they need and want to do. This may include work within our Therapeutic group program or more targeted one to one work.

Speech and Language Therapy

Speech and Language Therapists may work with you and other people, such as ward staff, education staff and home to support young people’s speech, language and communication needs. A Speech and Language Therapist may also give advice about eating, drinking and swallowing needs.

Psychological therapies

We have a number of psychological therapists at Red Kite View who may be involved in your care in different ways:

Psychology

The psychology team is involved with thinking about and supporting young people’s emotional needs. Clinical Psychologists on the unit will work with young people and their family/carers and staff to complete a psychological assessment and formulation (a shared understanding of difficulties) to develop a greater understanding of what the young person is currently finding challenging and why, and to think about the best way to support them with their emotional needs moving forwards.

Clinical Psychologists may be involved in working directly with young people, typically in a group, but will sometimes provide one-to-one sessions if appropriate. Young People may already have therapists in their community team and, where possible, we try to support these therapeutic relationships during admission so young people can continue with the same worker through admission and after discharge.

Assistant psychologists work alongside clinical psychologists. Assistant psychologists may offer 1:1 sessions around psychological wellbeing, offer support to complete outcome measures and help facilitate therapeutic groups on the ward.

Family therapy

Family therapy at Red Kite View helps family members to further understand and support each other. Our family therapist helps family members to feel safe so they can talk about their difficult thoughts and feelings, understand each other’s experiences and views, appreciate each other’s needs, build on family strengths, and work together to make useful changes in their relationships.

Art Therapy

Art therapy, or art psychotherapy, is a form of therapy that uses art materials to help people explore their thoughts, feelings and life experiences without having to talk. It may include using paint, pencils, clay, sand, chalks or other objects in the art room. Most importantly, young people do not have to be ‘good’ at art to use this therapy.

Dietetics

Dietitians help service users to eat well and develop a positive relationship with food, providing support and practical information. At Red Kite View, we have a specialist eating disorders dietitian who uses evidence-based therapeutic models to support young people and their families.

Social Worker

Social Workers at Red Kite View will meet with young people and their carers both at the hospital and at home. They will support with the admission and discharge planning which will include speaking with professionals who work with young people in the community and their families. They also do home visits after discharge. They support young people and families with difficulties with feelings, relationships, change or feeling safe.

Below are a range of useful websites and apps along with other resources we hope you will find helpful:

LINK	INFORMATION
MindMate	Mindmate is a Leeds based website about mental health and emotional welbeing. It is for young people and parents. It has information about local services and how to access them, self help and advice as well as personal accounts by young people. Leeds CAMHS are represented on the professionals panel that reviews the content on the site.
Young Minds	Young Minds is a national mental health charity. It provides up to date young people friendly information about mental health as well as advice for parents. It also campaigns to raise awareness.
MindWell	MindWell is a Leeds based mental health and emotional welbeing website for adults concerned about their own mental health. It has information about local services and how to access them as well as self help and advice.
MindED	MindEd is a free educational resource on children and young people’s mental health for all adults. Are you a parent or carer who is concerned about your child? Or perhaps you just want some hints and tips on parenting? MindEd for Families has online advice and information from trusted sources to help you to understand and identify early issues and best support your child.
Carer support leaflet	Download our carer’s support leaflet for information and support for family and carers.