CAMHS stands for 'Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services'. CAMHS exists to promote the mental health and psychological wellbeing of children and young people.

They provide high quality, multidisciplinary mental health services for all children and young people with mental health problems and disorders to ensure effective assessment, treatment and support, for them and their families.

'Mental health' can include our feelings (or emotions) and behaviour as well as our thoughts and views of the world.

CAMHS aims to do this:

• By supporting positive mental health through support to other professionals such as youth workers, teachers, social workers, GPs and school nurses

• By working in partnership with other agencies to ensure care, support and monitoring as necessary

• By offering assessment and treatment for children and young people referred with mental health and emotional needs and supporting their families

• By referring children and young people and their families to other services where appropriate, including community-based services such as Young Carers

• By providing specialist services for children and young people with serious, complex or persistent difficulties

Services are provided mainly in the clinic settings. But some young people are seen in satellite clinics, school, the home environment, GPs surgeries, Children's centres etc.