Common Concerns

Parents and Carers often approach CAMHS, GP’s, teachers, social workers and other professionals with a variety of very common concerns about their child. These concerns include:

Sleep Difficulties

Difficulties socialising or difficulties making and maintaining friendships

Struggles with attention, concentration and learning

Difficulties with communication

Anxiety

Behaviour that Challenges

Unwanted movements or noises

Too much energy

Fussy eating

Most children and young people will experience some of the above difficulties as they grow and develop, this is fairly normal.

To help we have put together some common concern pages and resources which you might find useful to refer parents too, prior to making a referral into CAMHS and /or whilst the family are waiting to be seen.

These resources are likely to be helpful for all children, irrespective of whether or not a formal diagnosis is needed. There will be no harm in signposting CYP and families to these strategies and encouraging them to start putting them in place. We would always encourage families to try these as a starting point.

First things to consider

There are a group of basics that should always be considered first, sleep being the most notable. A lack of sleep can impact all areas of a child or young persons functioning but particularly in relation to mood, concentration and focus, motivation, ability to manage emotions and behaviour. Other things to consider include food/diet, possible physical causes such as problems with vision or hearing, any recent changes in a child or young person's life that might be impacting.