CAMHS is for children and young people up to 18 years who are experiencing persistent, complex or severe mental health difficulties.
Referrals to CAMHS must come from professionals - we don’t accept referrals directly from parents, carers, children or young people.
If you are a parent or carer and have concerns about your child or young person's mental health, please speak to a professional who is already involved in their care, such as a GP, health visitor, teacher, or social worker.
If you are a child or young person and feeling worried about your mental health, you're not alone - and it's okay to ask for help. Try talking to a parent, carer, or another adult you trust. They can help you figure out what to do next. You might also find it helpful to check out advice from Stem4 about how to ask for help.
CAMHS is for children and young people who are really struggling with their mental health, but there are some things that we are not the right service for:
If you are referred to CAMHS, we'll look at the information given by the person who referred you and work out if CAMHS is the right support for you. If we're not the right service, don't worry, we'll get you to where you need to be.
After we receive a referral for you, we might call you to talk things through, or we might need to contact the person who referred you for more info. Most likely though, we’ll send you a letter with one of these next steps:
If you’re waiting for a CAMHS appointment, or you have any worries about your referral, please go back to your GP or the professional who referred you to talk things through. We do have a waiting list and the time you’ll wait depends on how many other young people also need help. We’re working hard to make sure you get seen as soon as possible but while you’re waiting, you could look at this info from YoungMinds.
Our Things to try page is also full of ideas and resources to support mental health and wellbeing - for both young people and parents/carers. It’s a great place to start if you’re looking for ways to feel better or support someone else.
CAMHS is for children and young people up to 18 years who are experiencing persistent, complex or severe mental health difficulties. This guidance is designed to aid decision making as to whether a referral to CAMHS is appropriate. A key factor to consider before referring to CAMHS is what other interventions have been tried at lower levels of support.
The Getting it Right in Fife Framework describes how Universal, Additional and Intensive services can work effectively to promote the wellbeing of children and young people by providing flexible and proportionate interventions. A fundamental principle is that, as far as possible, children and young people are supported by Universal provision prior to any intervention by Additional services and subsequent input from Intensive supports.
CAMHS is specialist provision that sits at the top end of Intensive support. Therefore, intervention at Universal/Additional levels should be actively engaged prior to referral. Referrals that result from a lack of appropriate resources in other services will not be picked up by CAMHS.
When thinking about referring to CAMHS, consider the 5 GIRFEC questions, alongside the views of the child/young person and their parents/carers before deciding on any further action:
In some circumstances, CAMHS is not the most appropriate service to offer support:
CAMHS is often not the most suitable service for children and young people whose behaviours are associated with a normal reaction to a significant life event (e.g. bereavement, parental separation). Some indication of persistent, complex or severe mental health difficulties needs to be evident in the behaviour for a referral to be appropriate for CAMHS. For alternative sources of support go to: Choosing the right support
CAMHS is not able to provide a service for children and young people whose difficulties are solely related to specific learning or behavioural issues within the classroom. Schools have their own referral routes and support systems for children with school-based difficulties. It may be that once support has been accessed within school, school may invite CAMHS to join a Team Around the Child (TAC) meeting or refer to CAMHS if appropriate. Please contact school for support.
In the first instance, the most appropriate support would be from Social Work. This may involve working with the Team Around the Child, and a subsequent referral to CAMHS for support if persistent, complex or severe mental health difficulties are present may be made by Social Work.
Please contact social work for support.
In the first instance, the most appropriate support would be from Social Work. This may involve working with the Team Around the Child, and a subsequent referral to CAMHS for support if persistent, complex or severe mental health difficulties are present may be made by Social Work.
Please contact social work for support.
Referral criteria thresholds for CAMHS are defined nationally - for more information visit Public Health Scotland.
A referral is deemed appropriate for CAMHS, where both of the following two conditions are met:
Condition 1: basic threshold
Condition 2: complexity and severity threshold
There is also the existence of at least one of the following:
If you are concerned about a child or young person's mental health and want to discuss appropriate support, please contact the CAMHS Primary Mental Health Workers (PMHWs): fife.camhs-pmhw@nhs.scot
To allow us to determine if CAMHS is the most appropriate support for the child/young person being referred, please include all the information below when making a referral. If this is not provided, the referral may be returned to you seeking further information.
All referrals should contain the following information:
Who has given consent for this referral (under 12 - Parent/carer, over 12 - young person)?
Has consent been given to share information with other agencies?
Has consent been given for onward referral if not suitable for CAMHS?
Who have you consulted with before making this referral (e.g., PMHW, school)?
What are the current concerns? Include severity, duration, frequency, impact of functions, variance across settings (e.g., home/school), and level of risk.
What are the specific concerns or expectations following this referral (ideal outcome)?
What are the protective factors (what is working, external supports, achievements)?
What has been tried before referring to CAMHS (service, intervention, outcome, how long ago)?
What are the other factors relevant to this referral (e.g., general health, family history, developmental issues, significant life events, living situation, and child protection)?
What other agencies are currently involved?
The urgency of a referral to CAMHS will be considered based on level of risk. Referrals should only be marked as urgent if the child/young person is:
or
or
When managing and determining risk, please see guidance for staff in Fife to support you with understanding and responding to children and young people at risk of suicide.
Referrals containing all the relevant information as described above will be processed as follows:
If there is not enough information provided to allow us to determine if the referral is appropriate for CAMHS, we will contact you asking for an updated referral containing the necessary information.
GP referrals must be made via SCI-Gateway.
Other professionals must download and complete the CAMHS referral form
