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 – The Consultant Psychiatrist has overall responsibility for the child’s or young person’s care. They will also have some particular responsibilities if the child or young person is involved with the Mental Health Act.

Social worker – Our Social workers work with the young people at the unit and their families or carers. They offer support when there are difficulties at home or when young people, parents or carers need support with issues related to home life.  They may also contact other agencies if it is felt that more support is required at home.

Teacher – Provided the child or young person feels well enough, they will be referred to our schoolroom. One of the teachers will discuss school or college with the child or young person to find out what subjects they are studying, any learning needs they may have and how they feel about school or college. Each person is given an individual timetable and teachers will liaise with the individual’s head of year during their admission and when they are ready to return to school.  They can also support individuals in exploring further education options and applications to college.

Consultant Clinical Psychologist – Clinical Psychologists work on the unit, with both our staff and young people, to develop a greater understanding of what is difficult for young people, how this has happened and think about the best way to help young people to move forward.  Some individuals in our care may already have therapists they work with in their community teams and, where possible, we try to support these therapeutic relationships during their admission so they can continue with the same worker through their admission and once they are discharged home.

Family Therapist – Family therapists work with the young person and their family to help families express and explore difficult emotions safely, understand each other’s experiences and views, appreciate each other’s needs, build on family strengths, and make the changes in their relationships and lives they want to make.

Occupational Therapist – Occupational therapists will work with individuals on a one-to-one or group basis to ensure that they feel they have the necessary skills to go about their day to day lives and do the activities they both want and need to do.

Dietician – Dietitians carry out an assessment with all young people at Little Woodhouse Hall to consider any individual dietary needs.   Young people may work with the dietitian, to explore the role of nutrition in both physical and mental health, consider how to achieve a balanced diet and enable people to make healthy lifestyle and food choices.

Nurses – We have mental health, paediatric and learning disability nurses working here as part of the care team. The nurses on the unit will administer any medication (where appropriate), and offer one-to-one support during admission. They will liaise with community teams to make sure that individuals will have the necessary support in place when they are discharged.

Health Support Worker – Health Support Workers are part of an individual’s care team and are there to offer support during the day, organise unit activities and speak to the nurses on the individual’s behalf where necessary.

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.