Our Primary Mental Health Team (PMHT) supports children and young people when they may feel emotionally or mentally unwell by helping them understand their needs and provide support and build resilience.
We support children and young people when they feel emotionally or mentally unwell by helping them understand their needs and address these through goal-based interventions.
We can also offer signposting and resources to the professional network around the child or young person to enable them to identify any concerns and support any developing mental health needs. We can work with parents and schools to enable them to nurture children and young people’s emotional health, wellbeing and build emotional resilience.
Our team is made up of people from different professional backgrounds who all have experience of working in children’s mental health. The team includes mental health nurses, school nurses, psychotherapists, counsellors, social workers, art therapists and more.
We support children, young people, parents, carers and other professionals such as teachers to identify and prevent mental health issues such as depression and anxiety.
We do this through:
- Consultations
- Assessments and brief treatment including group intervention.
- Liaison with professionals
- Training in schools
If you are worried about yourself, a friend, your child or young person please call our 24hr mental health crisis line free on 0800 915 4644 available through ”I need help now Im in crisis”
If your concern is less urgent and you have an allocated primary mental health worker (PMHW), you can call the clinic where they are based and these can be found underneath these drop down boxes. They will return your call but it may not be on the same day. You can also view other support services available through ”I need Support and Advice”
Also, it might help to talk to a parent or friend while you are waiting. There are also online resources provided by our partner Kooth.com which can provide support.
We also offer an online library of rated health apps to help and support you.
The primary mental health team (PMHT) is part of the school based needs team (SBNT). They are made up of clinicians from a variety of backgrounds.
We adapt a needs led therapeutic approach via school consultations and individual support.
The SBNT is divided into clusters with a PMHT In each area. This enables us to tailor the support we provide so that it meets the needs of schools and children and young people in that specific area. It also allows us to work jointly with other services in that locality.
The support we provide will vary depending on the specific needs of the children or young person (ie: an initial assessment, short term goal based therapy, support for the child’s school or signposting to other services). Children and young people can be seen at school, in a clinic or online depending on their needs.
We offer time-limited, goal-focused interventions adopting a therapeutic approach to the need of the individual. Our practise is informed by cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), solution-focused therapy, psychodynamic approaches, and more. We use outcome measures and regular reviews to gain feedback to understand how you feel about the support that is being offered and if it is helpful.
No, which means anything you share with us will be kept confidential, unless we are concerned that you or others are at risk because of the information you share.
We might write a letter to your GP or the person who referred you to our service, but you and your parents would be informed, if deemed appropriate, and would have a say in what goes in that letter.
No, just bring yourself. But if you find it helpful you can write down a few notes about how you’ve been feeling and what you feel may be causing it.
Lots of different staff including Primary Mental Health Practitioners, Psychiatrists (Doctors), Psychologists, Social Workers, Art Therapists, Psychotherapists, Nurses, Family Therapists and Psychological Wellbeing Therapists.
You can talk to any professional including teachers, school nurses, GPs and pastoral care departments.
You will see a clinician from the Primary Mental Health Team; they may be anyone from the list of people who work at Mindworks Surrey given above.
We will make an assessment based on how you are feeling and an appointment will be made for you depending on need. This may vary, but if you are concerned please speak to the person who introduced you to us or contact Access and Advice directly on 0300 222 5755.
Requests for support
We only accept requests for support from health, social care and education professionals. This ensures that every child or young person referred is in contact with the right service and receives appropriate treatment and support. To contact us or make a request for support:
- Visit the electronic referral system - GPs only
- Visit the secure Riviam web portal - GPs, schools and other professionals
Please make your request for support on Google Chrome - Call Access and Advice on 0300 222 5755
We are open 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 12pm Saturday. The service is not open on bank holidays.
Our school clusters are located around:
- Guildford
- Waverley
- Runneymede
- Surrey Heath
- Woking
- Spelthorne
- Epsom and Ewell
- Elmbridge
- Mole Valley
- Redhill/Reigate Banstead
- Tandridge