Anxiety

How do I know if my child has anxiety?

Anxiety affects us all differently – it can make us feel short of breath, give us headaches, stomach aches, affect our concentration, affect our sleeping, affect our toilet habits, make us sweaty, make our hearts beat faster or just generally make us feel on edge.

It is really important that we can try to understand how we are so affected by anxiety and then we can try different ways of managing it. For example:

• Talking about why or how we feel anxious
• Trying breathing exercises
• Distracting ourselves with television, music, exercise, walking, reading, baking, drawing, knitting, sewing, gardening – anything that helps us feel more relaxed

How can I help my child?

It’s difficult to understand what your child is going through if you haven’t experienced it yourself, or why it’s happening to them. You should try and imagine being in their shoes, experiencing what they’re feeling, and not question or doubt them. You should reassure your child that you are there for them, a hug and a kiss can make a world of difference.

Remember that their worrying behaviour may be short lived, all children and young people go through stresses and strains when growing up and everyone reacts to that differently. They will be able to manage this stage better knowing that they can open up to to you and they have the support of their family. Try talking to your child asking how they think you can help – they will have the best ideas to support how they’re feeling.

How can we help?

If the anxiety continues or gets harder to manage, it’s important to ask for more help from a professional such as a school nurse or GP, who can then make a request for service from Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).

In CAMHS we will often offer talking therapy such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) for anxiety.

What happens next?

Once a request has been accepted we will offer the child or young person an initial assessment either urgently (within 7 days) or within 6 weeks according to need.  The findings at the assessment will inform the next steps – sometimes a single appointment is all that is needed but where a series of appointments will be required specialist intervention will be indicated.

The child or young person will be assigned a clinician with the appropriate skills and will work in partnership with the child or young person and their family to define, agree and work towards their goals.

Self referral

You can now self-refer your child into this service. For more information please view this guide on how to self refer.

For details of what the service supports and what supporting documentation you require for your referral, please view the request criteria page.