Requests for support should, in most circumstances should be sent to Mindworks from the child or young person's school. Schools are well supported through their School-Based Needs teams, and therefore, in most situations, we would ask that requests for support are made via schools unless clinically urgent.

Clinically urgent requests for support will still be sent to us from GPs, referral through the GP should only be where there is a significant mental health need with associated risk to self or others. Examples of clinically urgent requests would be possible suicide with a plan, significant self-harm, suspected eating disorder, sexual trauma, or if the child or young person is care-experienced and requires therapeutic support, or has a diagnosed Learning Disability and needs LD support.  

We recognise that some families will not want to seek support via their school, and referral routes from a GP will remain available to them. For children and young people not attending school, being educated at home or in independent schools' children or young people will still be supported through their GP.

Requests for support for neurodevelopmental conditions, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), should be made, wherever possible, by schools. Read more information regarding accessing our Neurodevelopmental Diagnostic Pathway.

For CYP who are currently not attending school but remain on the school roll and where the child or young person is experiencing high levels of distress, that is impacting their behaviour and ability to participate in learning, consultations can be booked by the school.

Where requests for support cannot be made via  schools, GPs should use the following:  

  • The national electronic referral system (e-RS) , which is now accepting children’s referrals. Please note: you will not be able to use the link outside of an NHS service site.  
  • Or visit the secure online referrals portal (Riviam): Please make your request for support on Google Chrome.

If you are worried about a child or young person, please call our 24/7 mental health crisis line free on 0800 915 4644. It’s open all day and all night, seven days a week. 

We also have a free out-of-hours phone line that provides advice to parents and carers who are struggling with behaviours or difficulties which could be related to neurodevelopmental needs, such as autism or ADHD. It runs from 5 pm until 11 pm, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Please call 0300 222 5755.

All requests for support can be made via the systems below:

Once you have made a request for support into the service using the above systems and you want to communicate with the team directly regarding your request, you can call the Access and Advice Team (which replaced the CAMHS Single Point of Access) on 0300 222 5755 (Option 1). The phone line is open 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. The service is not open on bank holidays. 

Neurodevelopmental requests for support  

  • All requests for support for neurodevelopmental conditions such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder, should be made via schools by someone who has day-to-day contact with the young person e.g. teacher/ school SENCo.
  • Our neurodevelopmental pathways are changing. Information regarding this can be found on our 'forms for request for support page'.
  • We recommend using the Neurodevelopmental resource and information page on our website which has lots of useful interventions and resources to assist you during this time.

Social workers: social workers for children aged 11 and above from the Safeguarding Adolescent Team (SAT) and Targeted Youth Service (TYS) teams should make requests for support through the social work pathway.

Clinical Advice and Guidance Support Service:  this offers bookable 15-minute sessions to support any professional who is unclear whether a child or young person needs additional support. This is available via your local Community Team or the Access and Advice team on 0300 222 5755. If the answering machine is on, please do leave a message as these are checked regularly and responded to daily. 

Forms for requests for support (referrals)

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