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Southwark Child Wellbeing Practitioners (CWP)
Who we are
We are the Children and Young People’s Wellbeing Practitioner (CWP) team based in Southwark Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).
We are a friendly team of practitioners who see parents and carers of children and young people showing early signs of mental health difficulties.
We aim to support those on a journey to improve their mental health.
CWP programme aims
- Create a new sub-service with close links to the local community.
- Focus on prevention and early intervention.
- Increase accessibility and see children and young people who might not meet the threshold for current CAMHS provision.
Who we see
We will see young people aged 12 to 18 years old for an anxiety or low mood intervention where the young person is:
- experiencing worries or fears that interfere with their daily lives, avoid activities and social contact.
- Experiencing low mood and may be feeling unmotivated with a loss of interest in daily activities.
We offer help and advice to the parents or carers of children aged 5-11 to help them manage their child’s anxiety or behavioural issues:
- Where the child is experiencing worries or fears which are getting in the way of activities, family life, relationships or school.
- Where the parent or carer would like help learning how to respond to behaviour they may find difficult to manage, such as temper tantrums or difficulties following the rules and instructions.
What we offer
Child and Young People’s Wellbeing Practitioners (CWPs) work with young people and parents/carers using guided self-help over the course of six to eight weeks.
Guided self-help strategies are informed by Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) principles. CBT focuses on the problem at hand and accompanying emotions and responses. This approach aims to help parents and carers of children or young people to identify and understand their thoughts, feelings and behaviour cycles to help them learn ways to break out of unhelpful thinking patterns.
This means we work with the young person or parents and carers to support them in achieving their goals. It requires a commitment from both parties in order for the intervention to have positive impact.
Guided self-help involves working through self-help materials with a practitioner and completing worksheets in between sessions to help young people, parents and carers understand and manage these difficulties by:
- Making sense of current difficulties through what we know about low mood, anxiety or behaviour.
- Identifying what parents and carers want to change by setting goals.
- Introducing new ideas and strategies.
To learn more about the tips and techniques that we use to help you, take a look at our resources page:
How to make a referral
To refer please visit your GP or ask your child's school to make a referral using the usual Southwark CAMHS referral form:
To find out more about where we are based, and our opening hours please visit our service directory page: Southwark CAMHS Child Wellbeing Practitioner Team
