Posted on: 16 December 2021
Here's how you can access support over the festive period:
24/7 crisis line for young people and families - for children aged from six years, young people and their families/carers who are in crisis. Please call 0800 915 4644 to talk with a professional who will provide advice, support and signposting to a range of community services. No formal request for support is needed. Open 365 days a year.
Out-of-hours advice line - for families struggling with behaviour or difficulties which could be related to neurodevelopmental need, such as autism or ADHD. Skilled and friendly advisers can talk you through ways of calming down difficult situations. It runs from 5pm to 11pm, 365 days a year. Please call 0300 222 5755.
Access and Advice – formerly known as the CAMHS Single Point of Access (SPA). It provides easy and early access to advice and signposting to existing support as well as acting as a doorway (gateway) to more specialist or clinical support as needed. Please call 0300 222 5755. It is open 8am to 8pm, Monday to Friday and 9am to 12pm Saturday. The service is not open on bank holidays.
Our partner Kooth (www.kooth.com) is a free and confidential online mental health and emotional wellbeing platform for children and young people aged 10 to 18 years. It provides access to live chat and messaging with emotional wellbeing practitioners, peer to peer support and a variety of mental health resources. Access to Kooth resources is 24/7. Live chat is also available Monday to Friday 12pm to 10pm, and Saturday/Sunday 6pm to 10pm.
Over the festive period, live chat on Kooth will be available at these times:
24 December, 12 to 8pm
25, 27 and 28 December, 4 to 8pm
26 December and 2 January, 6 to 10pm
31 December, 12 to 6pm
1 and 3 January, 4 to 8pm