Ask the Experts: Help a child suffering from OCD

Question: I'm concerned a young girl I know has OCD and might begin to self-harm. She taps on surfaces and has to do certain things like shutting a door more than once and washing her hands several times. She believes if she doesn't do these things something bad will happen. She asked if I thought she was weird. How can I help?

Tracie Trimmer-Platman: I hope you have explained she is not weird. Around 1 in 100 people have OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder).

There isn't necessarily a link between OCD and self-harm but if you have reason to believe it's a risk in this case then clearly that's something you need to look into. OCD is something that can be treated relatively easily if symptoms are not too severe. Reassure this young woman she is not alone and can get help. Organisations that can offer advice and information for both you and her include YoungMinds, and OCD-UK. Also, thecalmzone.net links up young people with OCD and offers practical ways of dealing with it.

Tracie Trimmer-Platman is senior lecturer in youth and community work at the University of East London

Question: I'm a director of children's services with a new lead member who has no prior knowledge or experience of the role. Where do I start?

Peter Lewis: Start by talking about "risk" - financial, reputational and material. Explain the risks children face and what we do to minimise and manage risk. Make it clear we can never eliminate risk and can only protect those we know about. Good joint work with partners, thorough assessment and well-understood referral mechanisms are all important.

As for reputation, point to past and current cases and how you can learn from them. Media coverage of a system failure can be corrosive. More importantly, no one wants a child to suffer because we didn't learn from those cases.

Financial risk is harder to explain. When failure results in action for damages, it can be jaw-droppingly expensive. Maintaining a "safe" system is expensive yet Ofsted and the Department for Education won't accept cost as an excuse for inadequate services. Securing the necessary funds is a joint enterprise for you and your lead member.

Finally, establish a clear "need to know" protocol. What a lead member wants to know is not always the same thing. However, it helps you to keep them informed.

Peter Lewis is a freelance providing interim local authority children's services leadership, and a former DCS in Haringey

Question: I'm working with a 12-year-old girl who has revealed her mum drinks every night with friends she brings to the family home. The girl is scared but says I can't tell anyone as she has been sworn to secrecy. What should I do?

Jeanie Lynch: This is a distressing and frightening experience for a young person, but sadly not uncommon. It's not clear if the girl is scared by mum's friends or by the drinking and its impact on mum. Either way she needs to be supported and protected.

Tell her you want her to be safe so you will need to tell someone else about her situation. This may upset her but she obviously wants the situation at home to stop. Stress she is not being disloyal to her mum and she can get help and support.

Is her family known to social care or other agencies? Is mum getting support from adult services or local substance misuse agencies? Are the other adults known to any agencies? Is the girl taking on caring duties at home when mum is drunk?

A referral to children's social care may be necessary. A local support service for young carers could also help. This needs to be handled carefully and ideally with the girl's consent, depending on the severity of the situation. It's important you support her through the process.

Jeanie Lynch works for Barnardo's and has 25 years' experience of working with vulnerable children and families

Question: I want to use the recent wet weather to enhance children's learning at my nursery. Any suggestions?

June O'Sullivan: It's great to use children's daily experiences to support their learning so the rain presents a good opportunity. Begin by increasing their descriptive words for rain. Listen to the sound rain makes.

Explain the cycle of precipitation very simply and make rain gauges from plastic bottles. Leave the bottles out over night then measure how much rain has fallen, recording this on a rain chart - a great way to boost children's maths skills.

Get children to make clouds or draw and paint umbrellas. Use drops of glue to mimic raindrops. Don't forget to take them out in the rain. How does it feel? Use chalk to make art on the ground and watch the rain mix the colours, make cork boats to float in puddles and let them splash to their hearts' delight.

June O'Sullivan is chief executive of the childcare charity and social enterprise, the London Early Years Foundation

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