About your first appointment: Risk assessments

All children, young people and families that come to Leeds CYPMHS are required to have a risk assessment.

A risk assessment is a helpful tool for children, young people, families and staff to identify areas which may require some additional support.

In Leeds CYPMHS, a risk assessment is talked about in your first appointment. The CYPMHS clinician may ask some specific questions so they can understand if there are any concerns that you may need help with. The questions they ask may include “Do you have thoughts of self-harm or suicide?” or “Are you aggressive towards other people?”  They may also ask your parents or carers questions. Be as honest as you can. We’re not here to judge you; we are here to help you.

The answers you give may lead to the CYPMHS clinician suggesting that others need to be involved in your care. This may be a CYPMHS Doctor or someone else such as a teacher at school.

If there are risks that you need help with, then together we will complete a plan called an ‘Our Plan’. This will give helpful hints and tips on how best to manage your worries and provide you with contact numbers or web pages for other services that can help.

Further assessment and therapy

If you need more help from CYPMHS following these sessions, we will plan together a package of care to suit you. Because we fit it around what you need, there is no one next step, but you will get a say in deciding what comes next. Your therapist will talk through the options with you and what they think will work best for you. Our service also includes a specialist team for children with learning disabilities and their families- services are tailored to take into account their specific needs.

Specialist assessment: Examples of some of the specialist assessments we carry out are assessments for ADHD, eating disorders and autistic spectrum conditions (ASC).

You can find out more about autism and ADHD support for children and young people in Leeds at our neurodiversity information hub

Therapy: Examples of some of the specialist therapies we offer are cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), family therapy and creative therapies.

Intensive assessment and treatment packages

For a very small number of young people, highly intensive assessment and treatment packages are needed. Children and young people offered this will usually have had significant previous input from within our service.

Leeds CYPMHS has an intensive outreach service and access to the West Yorkshire adolescent in-patient service.

CYPMHS nurses are also based in the Leeds YJTs (Youth Justice teams).