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Today, the HSE launches a new service development, with 5 CAMHS Hubs to support CAMHS Teams in delivering enhanced responses to children, young people and their families/carers in times of acute mental health crisis.

Speaking at today’s launch Minister Mary Butler, TD, said:

“The development of this new multi-disciplinary Model of Care and the expansion of CAMHS Hubs nationally has been a priority for me and for the HSE. Support from these Hubs is designed to be over a short period of time, as they provide targeted and intensive intervention and support with flexibility to respond to different young people’s or parent/carer needs. We have worked hard to make sure this service will be child and young person centred, recovery focused and trauma informed.

This is a welcome and significant new service development to advance in particular Recommendation 35 of our Sharing the Vision policy to develop a comprehensive specialist mental health out-of-hours response for children and adolescents in all geographical areas.

I want to acknowledge the immense efforts of all involved in the design and development of this CAMHS Hub Model of Care. These pilot Hubs will provide a number of key improvements to the service, including helping young people and their families with intensive short-term supports to deal with an acute mental health crisis and provide the tools to deal with future issues.” 

Yvonne Goff, National Director, Change and Innovation, HSE said:

“These hubs are a significant development in our journey to improve CAMHS Services. The provision of timely and person-centred support to children, young people and families during times of acute mental health crisis is vital in providing additional person- centred supports.

It is also a key component of the HSE Mental Health Reform plans in the HSE Corporate Plan and it’s aligned to National Strategic policies in Slaintecare and ‘Sharing the Vision: A Mental Health Policy for Everyone’.Thank you to the five pilot learning sites for accepting to co-design and pilot implementation of this exciting and innovative initiative and I wish to acknowledge their work and commitment to date. We are also grateful to all the key stakeholders that we engaged with in the design and development of this initiative.”

• The New CAMHS Pilot Hubs aims to provide:
  • Timely and person-centred support: By offering support in the home or community, the model aims to respond quickly to individuals’ needs and empower them on their recovery journey.
  • Reducing hospital admission: By providing intensive supportsduring times of acute mental health crisis, the model seeks to offer an alternative response and reduce the need for inpatient admissions when appropriate.
  • Multidisciplinary team approach: CAMHS Hubs teams willplay a vital role in this model by delivering intensive mental health interventions and support in the home and community. These teams consist of professionals from various disciplines who assess the individual’s needs and develop an individual care plan tailoredto support their recovery journey. This multidisciplinary approach ensures that individuals receive comprehensive and holistic care.
  • Learning and evaluation: The pilot implementation of theCAMHS Hub will undergo an independent evaluation over the testing phase of 18-24 months. This evaluation will help assess whether the desired outcomes are being met and inform future development of the service. By continuously learning and adapting based onthe evaluation results, the HSE can improve the model and ensure it meets the needs of individuals with mental difficulties.

Both Co-chairs of the National Steering Group, John Meehan, Assistant National Director for Mental Health Operations Planning, and Dr Amir Niazi, National Clinical Lead for Mental Health, added: “We would like to thank each member of the National CAMHS Hub Steering Group, who demonstrated ongoing dedication and commitment to this project and who worked hard to enrich the final document with their own perspective and experience. The next stage of testing and piloting this model of care is an important one as it will enable us to learn from implementation and to evaluate if desired outcomes are being met to inform future development of CAMHS Hubs into the future.”

Notes

This ‘Model of Care for CAMHS Hubs’ was developed as a direct recommendation of Sharing the Vision, Ireland’s national mental health policy. It arose from the recognition that people who are experiencing mental health crisis need specialist services to provide brief intensive supports in a timely way to assist them in their recovery journey. The Hubs will be piloted across five learning sites in CHO 2, CHO 3, CHO 4, CHO 6 and CHO 8.

What is a CAMHS Hub

A CAMHS Hub provides enhanced, intensive brief mental health interventions to support CAMHS teams in delivering enhanced responses to children, young people and their families/carers, in times of acute mental health crisis, in the young person’s own environment/ community facility and with the active involvement of the young person and their family/carers/supporters and interagency liaison with local partners. Support from these hubs is time-limited, providing intensive intervention and support with sufficient flexibility to respond to different young people’s or parent/carer needs. Typically, this entails a range of evidenced-informed therapeutic approaches, including medication management, psychotherapeutic based individual, group and family interventions.  The service will be child and young person centred, recovery focused and trauma informed.

The CAMHS Hub Team incorporates the following disciplines

• Medical/Dental
• Nursing
• Social Work
• Occupational Therapy
• Management/Administration

Sharing the Vision, Ireland’s National Mental Health Policy:

‘Sharing the Vision – A Mental Health Policy for Everyone’ is Ireland’s national mental health policy and was published in June 2020.

The Sharing the Vision policy focuses on outcomes and adopts a lifecycle approach. This places the individual at the centre of service delivery at different stages of life.

It also aims to enhance the provision of services and supports across a continuum of care, including:

• mental health promotion
• prevention and early intervention
• acute and specialist mental health services

For more information and to view the policy and the Implementation Plan 2022-2024, please visit hse.ie/sharingthevision