"Mental health response"

My (ASD/ADHD) teenage child was admitted to hospital with suicidal ideation. Upon release we were told we would have a video-conference call with a staff member from CAMHS. The psychiatrist who booked the appointment confirmed it would be a particular staff member, as my child has had previous dealings with CAMHS and did not get along with the case worker we were given. We have had contact with CAMHS on and off for many years. The last appointment was with a member of staff who was wonderful, but my child needed more specialist help at the time (sexual assault counselling) and this was not under CAMHS umbrella. This new referral was to do with my child's generalised anxiety and depression, hence we agreed to give it another try with the certain staff member (whom we were not familiar with yet).

My child and I took time off for the video conference and just before were called to ensure we were online ready. I did not realise the person who called us was the case worker and that they would be video-conferencing with us. When I saw them in the conference I asked why we were speaking to them and not the other staff member. The case worker responded that they had had a meeting and it was agreed by those in the meeting that they should take the call. I was blunt in voicing my displeasure that this decision had been made without the consultation of my child and myself and stated that my child did not like the case worker and this conversation would not be of value, as my child would not engage with them. The case worker said that was fine, and that there were others in the office that could speak with us. We disconnected the call and were called back by someone else. This person asked us what was the reason we had been referred to CAMHS.

At this point my child had shut down and was uncommunicative because of both the expectation of speaking to a certain staff member being changed at the last minute without consultation and being replaced with the case worker whom they absolutely did not want to interact with. Additionally, it was quite obvious to me that this person had not read my child’s case file. My child has been interacting with CAMHS for a few years. If this person had read the file, I feel they would have known that my child has ASD, ADHD, anxiety, depression and PTSD and has had multiple hospital visits over the years and had been admitted by psychiatric staff at the hospital recently. We were referred to CAMHS by both the hospital and another service.

This person asked my child how they were feeling and my child of course stated fine. I explained that there had been some issues in the lead up to their distress, including resuming their medication after a break over the school holidays. This person then proceeded to seemingly lecture my child about why they need to take their medication continuously and not take breaks from it because of the many reasons that it is important to do so. I had to interrupt them as my child had already shut down, was not going to listen, had heard this lecture from many people on numerous occasions over the several years they have been taking medication and it was not helpful in this moment.

I felt this person was not helpful in stating what kind of services CAMHS could provide to my child, as I asked about counselling to help with their ongoing mental health issues. This person stated that this was not a counselling session and was to see what my child needed from them. How do I know? That's why I'm talking to them. I'm interested to know what they think my child might benefit from. We were not asked about making an appointment with a child psychiatrist (which is why we were referred to CAMHS by the hospital staff). We were also told they were only doing video-conferencing calls for the foreseeable future, which my child does not respond well to, due to their ASD. They did not give us information for other services which may be of benefit to us.

This person did say they could help adjust my child's prescription, which was not what we wanted, as we see our GP regularly to stay on top of medications and dosage and had an upcoming appointment to discuss this.

I am seriously disappointed and underwhelmed in the handling of this. The community is always so devastated when a teen takes their own life, yet when one is reaching out for help and seriously needs it, it seems this is the response from the available 'professionals'.