[Help] Child mental health

atomised said:

Really going through it at the moment with my 8 year old stepson. A large part of it relates to a criminal matter I won't disclose on here. He has expressed suicidal thoughts and as a result was admitted last week to hospital for his own safety. Unfortunately 2 days later the child and adolescent mental health service decided discharging to the community was his best option. Home he came with a pocketful of calming exercises and some work to do with him.

Fast forward 3 days and my partner and I aren't sleeping because he is still expressing those thoughts and we have had a complete meltdown this evening. Much hitting and scratching himself and refusing to try his calming methods because they don't work.

Where to next. Hopefully we will start to get some more professional backing but for now it's a daily battle.

NSC is usually so good at advice so I figured I would put it out there.

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atomised said:

Really going through it at the moment with my 8 year old stepson. A large part of it relates to a criminal matter I won't disclose on here. He has expressed suicidal thoughts and as a result was admitted last week to hospital for his own safety. Unfortunately 2 days later the child and adolescent mental health service decided discharging to the community was his best option. Home he came with a pocketful of calming exercises and some work to do with him.

Fast forward 3 days and my partner and I aren't sleeping because he is still expressing those thoughts and we have had a complete meltdown this evening. Much hitting and scratching himself and refusing to try his calming methods because they don't work.

Where to next. Hopefully we will start to get some more professional backing but for now it's a daily battle.

NSC is usually so good at advice so I figured I would put it out there.

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Weststander said:

Very sorry to hear that, for you all.

Does his school and CAMHS know? From my recent experience, the moment “suicidal thoughts” are mentioned, the system worked remarkably fast and very well to potentially protect a young life.

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atomised said:

His school are well aware. CAMHS assessed him at the hospital and it was they who said he could be looked after at home. The CAMHS worker at the hospital pretty muchsaid because of his age he was unlikely to act on those thoughts. We have a temporary plan whilst waiting for a follow up call from CAMHS

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Poojah said:

Wow, really sorry to hear that. It's not really on the same scale, but my niece of the same age has suffered from a range of sensory and anxiety based issues which were serious enough to pretty much grind her life to a halt. Leaving the house became a huge ordeal.

My sister's been taking her to a private psychotherapist for about six weeks now, and has already made significant progress (that even I've noticed from a distance). The lady she's been seeing has been open and up front enough to say that she isn't really qualified for one or two of specific issues, but knows the right specialist to refer her to which is now in progress.

I think it costs about £50 per session, but it's enabled everyone to really understand what's going through her mind and deal with it accordingly. Kids can be incredibly complex beasts but also often incredibly simplistic too - it's sometimes easy to overlook those simple things. In my neice's case it's been a real mix complex, deep seated issues and things which seem so obvious now it's hard to believe we all missed them.

I obviously don't know about the specifics of your stepson's situation so I can't really comment any further, other than to say may I wish you and your family all the best in coming through this.

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Weststander said:

Needless to say good luck. At least he has two parents looking out for him 24-7. Your angst is normal, an expert said on R2 not so long ago that “we (parents) are only ever as happy as our unhappiest child”.

On a small positive, at that young age there’s plenty of time and free resources to work with him, to make the lad a far happier person. It will be counsellors and hopefully child pschologists.

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Poojah said:

FYI, there are a few in the East Sussex area if it was something you might like to explore:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/...east-sussex-county?sid=5f5fe007ab175&spec=325

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atomised said:

Really going through it at the moment with my 8 year old stepson. A large part of it relates to a criminal matter I won't disclose on here. He has expressed suicidal thoughts and as a result was admitted last week to hospital for his own safety. Unfortunately 2 days later the child and adolescent mental health service decided discharging to the community was his best option. Home he came with a pocketful of calming exercises and some work to do with him.

Fast forward 3 days and my partner and I aren't sleeping because he is still expressing those thoughts and we have had a complete meltdown this evening. Much hitting and scratching himself and refusing to try his calming methods because they don't work.

Where to next. Hopefully we will start to get some more professional backing but for now it's a daily battle.

NSC is usually so good at advice so I figured I would put it out there.

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atomised said:

Thanks. Will be another day of countless phone calls. My positive side thinks his age gives him ample opportunity to bounce back. It hurts so much knowing a child that age can feel so hopeless.

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Doc Lynam said:

Speak to your GP and see if you can get a referral for you child to be assessed and a if passed a plan and team should support you each with there own part to play. Mental health is very tough on everyone concerned but its great that you’re talking and reaching out next stop your GP.
https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/nh...-young-peoples-mental-health-services-cypmhs/

CAMHS is the service I think you’ll need.

You guys aren’t alone with this there are services designed to support you and if you don’t like the answers you are getting ask to be seen by someone else get a second opinion, change GP etc.

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atomised said:

Been begging for a GP referral for a while CAMHS assessed him at the hospital and it's only because we pushed they have passed it to the community team. Hopefully we will finally get somewhere with that

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Weststander said:

I found the school, hopefully you have a caring person there taking control, do the work for you in getting the CAMHS ball rolling.

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Originunknown said:

Sorry to hear this. As a parent this must be an extremely difficult situation. Try to create more positive distractions and focuses for him, more positive outlets and uses for his energy and time.

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