Why do I need a young person or family consultation?
Following a staff consultation, if we feel more information is needed, you would be invited to a young person or family consultation.
Young person consultation
If the young person is aged 11 or over, they will meet with one of our trained practitioners to talk about how they are feeling, what the problem is, how long it has been going on and explore how they would like to receive support.
The young person will meet with a trained practitioner from the MindMate Support team usually for around 45 minutes to an hour, either in the education setting or at one of the health centres in Leeds. This will be agreed when the practitioner first makes contact and discusses the options with the young person. The young person has the option to have a parent or carer within the consultation for all, some or none of the consultation time.
Family consultation
If the young person is under the age of 11, they will usually meet with a practitioner alongside their parent or carer to talk about how they are feeling, what the difficulties are, how long the difficulties have been going on and explore whether support would be helpful.
The young person and their parent will meet with a trained practitioner from the MindMate Support team usually for around 45 minutes to an hour, either in the education setting or at one of the health centres in Leeds. This will be agreed when the practitioner first makes contact.
Questionnaires
Before the consultation, you will have been sent and asked to complete a set of questionnaires which outline potential symptoms you or your child may be experiencing and the effect this is having on life. These will be reviewed within the consultation.
You will meet with a mental health professional for around 45 minutes to an hour, usually in your school but this could also be in a local health centre if you would prefer.
The person you meet is trained in this role so knows what questions to ask and will try to make you feel comfortable to talk about what you are experiencing and how it is affecting your life.
If you are over 11 you have the option to meet alone with the professional, or to have a parent or teacher attend the session if this feels more comfortable for you. This could be for most the session or some of the time, we may ask to speak to you alone for a period of the consultation.
If you are under 11, we usually ask for a parent or carer to attend the consultation. The professional would ask questions directly to you as well as your parent, carer or teacher as it is important that you have the opportunity to explain how you are feeling.
What might I be asked?
How have you been feeling?
How long the problem has been going on for?
How does the problem impact on your day-to-day life?
If there is anything that makes the problem worse or better?
What do you want to change or what would you being doing differently if you didn’t have this problem?
During the consultation the practitioner will review the questionnaires that you will have received and been asked to complete before the session.
We will also ask about any risks to you. We are aware that at times when young people feel stressed or low in mood they could have some difficult thoughts, and it is important for us to ask these questions directly so that we can think of a shared plan of what you, the people around you or other services may be able to offer during more difficult periods.
If you are in immediate danger or distress please access one of the crisis services such as Leeds CYPMHS Crisis Call Line (8am to 8pm, 365 days per year), Night Owls (8pm to 8am), more information can be found on the MindMate: Urgent help webpage
As the support we offer is based in a therapy called cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) we may complete a ‘hot cross bun’ model to help us understand how you are feeling and how it is affecting you.
If you would like to find out more about ‘hot cross bun’ or low intensity CBT (LI CBT), you can find it on the low intensity CBT webpage.
A trained and accredited mental health professional would offer an appointment with your child for around 45 minutes to an hour, usually in your child’s school but this could also be in a local health centre if preferable.
If your child is over 11 they have the option to meet alone with the professional, or to have a parent or teacher attend some or all the session.
If your child is under 11, we usually ask for a parent or carer to attend the consultation. The professional would ask questions directly to your child and also to yourself to gain a wider perspective of the current mental health difficulties. We may also ask you to complete some questionnaires which help us to gather more understanding of the main problem and the effect this is having on the young persons life and relationships.
What might my child be asked?
How have you been feeling?
How long the problem has been going on for?
How does the problem impact on your day-to-day life?
If there is anything that makes the problem worse or better?
What do you want to change or what would you being doing differently if you didn’t have this problem?
During the consultation the practitioner will review the questionnaires that you will have received and asked to complete before the session.
We will also ask your child about any risks to themselves from other people and also from themselves. We appreciate that this could be a very difficult conversation to have and to hear the answer, but this is as we want to understand how they are feeling and will help to create a safety plan to help manage these if they are experiencing difficult thoughts. When creating a safety plan with a young person, family and their teachers may be involved in this.
If your young person is in immediate danger or distress please access the appropriate support on the MindMate: Urgent help webpage
At the end of the consultation the practitioner will discuss what kind of support we could offer to help with the problem. This may be:
1 to 1 support this may be directly with the young person, with a family member or within a group (link to support page)
signposting to other services in Leeds which may be more appropriate
providing resources to your education setting or the family which will be useful to help with the young person’s difficulty
On some occasions this may not be clear as to the correct support options within the consultation and the clinician may need to review with other members of the team. If this is the case, you will be informed of the plan for the next contact date from the clinician.
