Anna Guildford, CAMHS crisis and home treatment service manager, Sussex Partnership Foundation Trust
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Anna Guildford manages a newly launched mental health service for young people and their families in Sussex.
- What do you do?
I'm the manager of a newly launched mental health service for young people and their families in Sussex. It liaises closely with accident and emergency and provides support in children's and family homes as well as community locations. My role is to make sure my team is supported to get the clinical work done. This includes making sure staffing levels are correct and ensuring that they are working in a safe environment.
- How did you end up in this role?
I've been a mental health nurse for the past 12 years, and for the past two years I have worked with CAMHS as an outreach team leader. I had worked in accident and emergency assessing people, and found that I was assessing many young people and became interested in working with them.
- What kinds of cases do you see?
Young people can have all sorts of mental health issues. A sizeable minority of the cases relate to eating disorders. A lot of the emergency and out-of-hours work is based around deliberate self-harm and young people feeling suicidal. We also deal with people who are having psychotic experiences.
- Is working with young people different to an adult caseload?
You have to be a bit less formal with young people when you are engaging with them. Rather than a set mental health assessment, you have to try to find out about them through other avenues such as the music they like, school experience, and what their friends are like.
- How do you make a difference?
I hope that we will present a real alternative to hospital admission and a service that is quicker and more appropriate to them. Young people are pleased to see us in a non-clinical setting. If we need to go for a walk or to have a coffee then we can do it to engage with them. By working with families at home, we can help parents to deal with things better in future.