Assessing your mental health needs – children and young people

If you've been referred or you've self-referred to a local children and young people's mental health service, they will work with you to understand what support you need.

This conversation might happen straight away, or you may need to wait for someone to contact you.

If you are a parent or carer, and your child is under 16, you may be asked to be involved in these discussions, but in some cases the service may suggest they speak to your child alone.

If you've not been referred for support yet, find out where to get mental health support.

Speaking to someone from your local service

You'll usually be asked for more information about the problems you're having. Try to give as much detail as you can to make sure you get the support you need. You may also be asked to complete some forms. The questions on these forms will help services understand your mental health needs.

Preparing for a conversation about your mental health

If you're offered a conversation or an appointment with a mental health professional, this may feel scary. You may be worried about talking about difficult thoughts and feelings.

Remember, they are there to help you and whatever you tell them is confidential, unless they are concerned about your safety or the safety of someone else

It can help to think about what you want to talk about beforehand. You could write down any thoughts, questions or worries to take with you.

Here are some things that are helpful for you to tell them:

what problems you're having, for example being worried or sad, having trouble sleeping or eating, or seeing or hearing things that are not real
when your problems started
what you'd like to change
if there's a pattern in the problems – keeping a mood diary can be really helpful
any other general problems (including health problems), and whether any other services support you either now or in the past
any big things that are happening in your life like a divorce, bereavement, changing or leaving school or college or any past trauma

They will then be able to talk to you about the different ways they can help.

They should talk you through the different types of help available (including how long you would need to wait) and agree with you what would be most helpful.

Questions to ask

It can be helpful to ask:

What support is available to me (including from other services)?
How long is the wait for these?
What support is available while I am waiting?
If things change or start getting worse, what should I do?

What happens next

After a conversation or appointment with the service you should agree what kind of support will be most helpful for you.

This could be:

advice and resources (such as apps and online courses) you can use on your own to help yourself
therapy, such as counselling, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) or family therapy
an appointment with another mental health professional if you have specific needs, for example if you have an eating disorder
a different service that better meets your needs, such as early help, which is a type of support for families – YoungMinds has more information on early help

You'll then be given information about the next steps to getting support, including if you have to go on a waiting list.

Find out more about receiving mental health support or what to do while you're waiting for mental health support.

What if I want a different type of support?

It's possible that you might not be offered the type of support you were expecting or you think you need.

Children and young people's mental health services should work with you to agree what support is right for you. They should:

listen to you
consider your needs and preferences
work with you to agree your you and discuss what support options are available
make sure you take part in any decisions that are made about support you need or are given

If you do not feel like this is happening you can go back to your local children and young people's mental health service to discuss other options.

If you still cannot get the support you need, then there are people who may be able to speak up for you or give you advice. This is called advocacy or being an advocate.

You can find out more about advocacy from:

Mind – a mental health charity providing information and support
Patients advice and liaison services (PALS) - an NHS service providing confidential advice and support which you can contact through your local hospital

You can also do your own research into other services, such as:

check the youth wellbeing directory on the Anna Freud website
search for local services on the Youth Access website
visit GOV.UK to find your local authority to see if they provide any other mental health services

If you need to speak to someone straight away, find out where to get urgent help for your mental health or find out how to get support from mental health charities.