CAMHS Berkshire Link Team

The Link Team will work with NHS services and other organisations to get young people the best care and support.

There are four ways in which we may get involved:

Understanding the situation: The Link Team will discuss the young person’s situation to understand what help has already been given so far, make recommendations and / or help connect them to other services for the right support.

Develop a care plan: There may be several professionals and agencies who are working together to provide support. This involves meeting to make sure everyone understand the child or young person’s story, to aid with jointly developing a care plan.  

Further assessment: There may be times when the team will meet with the child or young person to understand more about their challenges and needs. This could be with a psychologist, psychiatrist or mental health professionals. As part of this they will look at the young person's wider home, school and social environment.

Direct Management of care: Sometimes the Link Team will take on the management of care with other professionals. We may also monitor psychological, educational / occupational and youth work involvement. The care plan will be jointly produced with the young person.

As part of your care plan, we may introduce you to one of our youth workers to provide further support.

The youth worker's role is to establish good rapport and effective relationships with the young person and work to increase their confidence and ambition.

At times, our youth workers will simply be talking to the young person and helping them participate in various activities such as arts, music, or sports. Other times, they will assess the needs of the young person and support them to attend programmes in the community (examples: health and fitness, drugs and alcohol, relationships, bullying, education, homelessness, mental health, etc.)

We are working in partnership with RAW, to drive a vibrant new approach to working with young people in complex situations across the Thames Valley area. Advocating for young people is part of RAW's ethos.

The CAMHS Berkshire Link Team and RAW have the young person at the heart of everything it does, working to bring the young person, their families, the third sector and professional colleagues together with the common goal of providing the best possible outcomes and future for the young person in an innovative way. The goal will be to ensure the young person is heard and supported, and that they have everything they need to continue on in making a positive contribution to society.

Any professional working with a young person who has a range of complex needs and feels that the existing provision is not meeting that need, and is unsure how to proceed, may make a referral. This may include (but is not limited to): 

• Children’s social care / education services
• CAMHS / other CAMHS teams
• Youth Justice teams and the police
• GPs

Professionals are always welcome to contact us for an initial discussion regarding possible input from our Link teams. Following an initial discussion, there will be agreement about whether further Link team involvement is required and what form that may take.

Call: 0118 904 6780

Email: LinkTeam@berkshire.nhs.uk