Child and Adolescent Mental Health Learning Disability Service

See the NHS Wandsworth website for maps and directions to Queen Mary's Hospital.

The Child and Adolescent Mental Health Learning Disability Service is one of a number of teams that make up the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service in Wandsworth.

We offer a comprehensive range of services to children and adolescents who have emotional and behavioural problems, and to their families.

We offer a wide range of assessments including psychiatric evaluation, psychometric testing, speech and language assessment and behavioural and family assessments.

Assessments normally take place within the hospital as well as in other environments to give a complete picture of the child's problems. To help with this process we visit home, school, respite services and children's centres.

The team comprises:

• Dr Heather Armstrong, Clinical Psychologist
• Denise Barber, Secretary
• Irene Drummond, Secretary
• Chineze Olinze-Shote, Clinical Nurse Specialist
• Dr Helen Simmons, Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist
• David Smith, Clinical Nurse Specialist
• Cathy Taylor, Principal Speech and Language Therapist/Family Therapist

We also have regular trainees of all disciplines.

The service is for children up to their 18th birthday who have a severe learning disability and mental health problems. This service is for the Wandsworth area but accepts nationwide referrals.
 

Treatments:

Treatments and interventions are offered on the basis of the outcome of the assessment. The team is able to offer a wide range of therapies to help children overcome the problems they face, including:

• speech and language therapy
• behaviour therapy and cognitive-behaviour therapy
• staff consultation
• family therapy and family work
• liaison with other services and professionals

Referrals to the team should be made in writing to the Team Administrator at the above address.

To enable us to proceed with a referral promptly we require the following information from referrers:

• An indication that you have discussed the referral with the client and family and that the family have given informed consent to the referral
• A detailed reason for the referral
• Full name, status and contact details of referrer
• Full name of the child and of the parent or guardian
• Address, including full postcode and contact telephone number
• Date of birth
• NHS number
• Name, address and telephone number of General Practitioner (if not the referrer)
• Ethnicity of the child
• Accommodation Status
• First language of the parent or guardian if not English
• School and education status

We welcome enquiries by telephone, fax and email.

Developing Mental Health Services for Children and Adolescents with Learning Disabilities: A Toolkit for Clinicians (2009) (PDF) - external website
A useful guide for clinicians, edited by Professor Jeremy Turk and Dr Sarah Bernard, is available from the Royal College of Psychiatrists. 

A Mental Health Care Pathway for Children and Young People with Learning Disabilities: A resource pack for service planners and practitioners (2007) (PDF) - external website
A resource pack for services to help them become more accessible to children with learning disabilities.

Challenging behaviour: a guide for family carers on getting the right support for children (2011) (PDF). A guide for parents and carers on getting the right support for a child with challenging behaviour published by the Social Care Institute for Excellence.

Challenging behaviour: a guide for family carers on getting the right support for teenagers. (2011) (PDF). A guide for parents and carers on getting the right support for a teenager with challenging behaviour published by the Social Care Institute for Excellence.

Research and interests:

The team is active in research and current academic interests include the transition from CAMHS to adult services, and parental attributions of challenging behaviour.

Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) - Wandsworth

/our-services/child-and-adolescent-mental-health-service-camhs-wandsworth/