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Our South West Provider Collaborative family ambassador service provides practical and emotional support for parents and carers of children who need inpatient mental health care, referred to as an inpatient CAMHS Tier 4 service.
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How we can help
How we can help
When a child or young person needs highly specialised mental health care, it can be a difficult and confusing time for families. Family ambassadors provide practical and emotional support for parents and carers of children who are admitted to an inpatient CAMHS Tier 4 service. What's unique about the team is that they have all parented a child who has needed inpatient mental health care in the past.
Our ambassadors aim to provide emotional and practical support after your child's admission to Tier 4, until shortly after they are discharged.
They can help with the following, as and when needed:
- Supporting you to work in partnership with the hospital team to create the best care plan for your child
- Explaining the different roles of your child's hospital clinical team
- Explaining the different meetings and legal processes you may come across while your child is in hospital
- Supporting you to prepare for these meetings, for instance thinking about questions you might ask
- Listening to any concerns and exploring ways you can work with the clinical team to resolve them
- Providing practical support with applying for Disability Living Allowance (DLA) or Personal Independent Payments (PIP) for your child
- Helping you navigate educational offers, for example, applying for an Education, Health and Care (EHC) assessment or reviews
- Supporting you if your child needs to move to a different type of care
- Helping you prepare for your child's discharge, for instance thinking about next steps with education, social care, NHS, or the local authority
- Highlighting where to find all kinds of extra information and support for you as a parent or carer
- Family ambassadors do not attend ward meetings or replace the support and communication that you will receive from the staff caring for your child.
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How to get help
How you get help from us
As soon as possible after your child is admitted you will be allocated a family ambassador and be given details of how to contact them, by text, email or via MS Teams. We have three ambassadors in the South West who work flexibly to ensure there is support available to you throughout the week.
Leaving the service
We will work with you to prepare for the ending of the family ambassador contact. Feedback about our service is very much appreciated at any time but especially after discharge, where we invite you to share your views on the service.
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Opening hours
Office hours, Monday-Friday, excluding bank holidays
dpt.familyambassadorsswpc@nhs.net
Further information
You can access a wealth of information on topics such as supporting siblings and understanding mental health conditions by visiting the family ambassadors website for parents and carers. This website is hosted by Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust.
Locations
The South West service includes the following inpatient settings:
- Riverside in Bristol - currently closed
- Wessex House in Somerset - currently closed
- Plym Bridge in Plymouth
- Sowenna in Cornwall
- Florence House in Dorset
Confidentiality
We make brief notes about our contact with you, such as the date and the nature of support offered. We share this with the other family ambassadors so that support offered to families is consistent. The hospital team caring for your child will know you are supported by our service and will be kept up-to-date with a summary of the information and support we have offered. We will agree with you what will be shared during your appointments.
You can speak to us in confidence. Nothing you tell us will be shared outside our service without your consent, apart from the brief note sent to the clinical team mentioned above. There is one exception. Where there are significant concerns about the welfare or safety of a member of the family being supported, these will need to be shared, confidentially, with a member of the hospital or safeguarding team. Wherever possible this will be discussed with you in advance.