Staff Roles
Psychologists are university-trained health professionals who have studied human behaviour and have a lot of knowledge about the ways people think, feel, behave and learn. They will try to help you understand what emotions you're feeling and why.
There are lots of types of psychologist, at CAMHS we have Clinical Psychologists, Counselling Psychologists and Educational Psychologists. The different types of psychologist may have slightly different ways of teaching you how to take care of your mind and body. You can ask your psychologist what type they are, and what ways they might use to help.
A nurse is a trained healthcare professional with medical knowledge and skills in caring for people who are unwell. Nurses also work to help people live in healthy ways and prevent illness where possible.
Some of our nurses have advanced training and knowledge in a particular area of healthcare, they are called Nurse Specialists.
Nurse Prescribers have the expertise to prescribe and give advice about certain medications.
Paediatric Liaison Nurses give mental health support to young people who are also suffering with physical health symptoms.
Therapists are professionally trained to be able to give treatments which are not medical. Psychotherapists use talking therapies to help people with mental and emotional difficulties.
A Dance and Movement Therapist supports people to use creativity and their bodies to express feelings and help with mental and emotional difficulties.
A Family and Systemic Therapist supports families to talk to each other and help with relationship difficulties that can affect our mood. They can also look at how our support systems are a part of helping us with emotional difficulties.
An Art Psychotherapist supports people to use creativity and art-making to express feelings and help with mental and emotional difficulties.
Psychiatrists are medical doctors who help their patients recover from mental illnesses or manage their symptoms. A Consultant Psychiatrist is a senior level doctor specialising in treating mental ill health.
The Single Point of Access Manager ensures that referrals are looked at straight away and passed to the most appropriate people to help.
The Duty Manager makes sure that there are always staff members available to speak to young people and their families when needed.
The General Manager ensures that the service meets its goals and provides good quality care, for example by deciding which new staff are needed.
The Operations Manager ensures that the service runs as smoothly as possible every day, for example by purchasing new equipment.
The Clinical Support Team do all the 'behind the scenes' work to manage appointments, records, liaisons and the running of the two City & Hackney CAMHS clinic sites.
The Administration Lead has oversight on all the administration work of the service.
An Executive Assistant supports senior managers with organisation and clerical work such as arranging meetings and putting reports together.
CAMHS receptionists are the first point of contact for anyone coming to the service, they ensure appointments and liaison runs smoothly.
CAMHS Coordinators manage the administration and data needed to run the service efficiently.
A People Participation Worker helps young people, parents, carers and families use their own voice and experience to make the service work better. They will run groups, trainings and projects, for example training young people and parents/carers to sit on interview panels to recruit new staff at CAMHS.
Education Mental Health Practitioners (EMHPs) offer support to young people who are experiencing mild to moderate difficulties with their emotional well-being that might best be managed within a school setting. These interventions can be individual, in groups of young people, with parents/carers or with parents/carers and their children.
Glossary of Keywords
Behaviour – the things that we do. Sometimes we are more aware of and in charge of our behaviour and sometimes less so. An example of this is: if we are hiding a birthday present from a friend, we may not be able to stop ourselves behaving differently and seeming more secretive.
Care-Coordinator – a staff member who manages the overall care and treatment of a person using the service.
Creativity – bringing forth ideas and expressions from within which may be new, different or original.
Discipline – in a health-context, discipline means a system of education, training and work that uses a particular set of ideas and ways of working, for example, educational psychologists and clinical psychologists are both psychologists but from different disciplines.
Liaison – this is where two people will talk to each other and share information about a particular situation.
Mood – your feelings and energy which change at different times, for example, a happy mood, a low mood or an irritable mood.
Multi-Disciplinary Team – this is a group of staff members who work together to get a broad and balanced understanding of a situation. For example, a social worker, a psychologist, a psychiatrist and a family therapist are all from different disciplines but can work together for one goal which is the health and happiness of the child.
Prescribe – when a doctor gives out a note which authorises a person to receive a particular medicine.
Professional – someone who is qualified to do a particular job.
Referral – a request for help from a service such as CAMHS. Usually a form is filled in with information about the reason the request for help is being made.
Service – A workplace with the purpose to help people who have a particular need, for example, the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service aims to help young people who are struggling with their mental health.
Service User – someone who is using a service to help them with a particular need they have.
Single Point of Access – a central place for all enquiries and referrals for health services.
Symptoms – what you might experience when you are not well, for example, a symptom of insomnia is headaches.
Support System or Support Network – this is all the people and organisations around a person that help them, for example family, friends, GP, school, religious group and so on.
Co-Production of Page
This webpage has been created in collaboration with children, young people, parents and carers. If you have suggestions for improving these webpages, please contact elft.ppgchcamhs@nhs.net