 |
|||||||
|
|||||||
 |
|||||||
Getting Extra Help (United Kingdom) This page will give you some ideas about how to get support for yourself if you have a difficulty with your children or family. It gives you some ideas about how to find help from various organisations and professional bodies in the United Kingdom. Getting help from your partner, relatives and friends If you have a partner, try talking things over with them first to see what they think, before seeking professional help. Sometimes this is not possible. You can talk to trusted friends to see if they have faced similar family difficulties.. It is sometimes difficult to talk to immediate family, but your parents, favourite aunt or uncle may offer useful advice too. If you are separated or divorced and the other parent has contact with the children, try to talk things over with them to see whether they are experiencing similar difficulties. Sometimes there is no one else available to talk to. Bear in mind that you have to feel comfortable about applying any advice you have been given and that not all advice is good. If you continue to experience difficulties, you will need extra help. Whatever anyone else tells you, if you feel you need professional advice, seek it. Families, including yours, are important to the future of our community. That is why services have been set up to help you. You have a right and responsibility to ask for help when you need it. Professional bodies, voluntary bodies, local support groups, churches, libraries Help from professional organisations such as the National Health Service (mainly through your GP), NHS Direct or Social Services is available when the need arises. There are many voluntary organisations such as the NSPCC, Gingerbread, MENCAP, Parent Link, RELATE and others that may have local support groups in your area. There is no reason why you should not contact any of these organisations to ask whether or not they can help. If you contact a voluntary organisation and they offer help, ask about their qualifications and any fees they may charge before you get involved. Many churches offer support groups and specialist services too. Your local social services and library will have information about many services and voluntary organisations in your area. Counsellors, Family Therapists and Psychotherapists If your GP feels it is appropriate you can be referred to a qualified counsellor, family therapist or psychotherapist within the NHS. If you want to see a qualified professional privately, there are a number of professional organisations who can direct you to qualified and accredited therapists. The United Kingdom for Psychotherapy (UKCP) can tell you if a therapist is accredited. To gain accreditation a therapist must satisfy a number of conditions including holding recognised qualifications, undertake on-going professional development and have regular professional supervision. The professional body for Family therapy in the UK is the Association for Family therapy and Systemic Practice UK (AFT). The professional body for counselling is the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP). Seeing a therapist privately will be quite expensive, so enquire about their fees before you proceed with therapy. Schools and education authorities If you have concerns about your child's educational attainment, or any other school worries, contact their teacher and discuss your worries with them first. In secondary schools, the year head is often the best person to speak to first. Most schools have a SENCO teacher (special educational needs co-ordinator) and they can offer support and advice to you and your child. Schools can refer your child to an educational psychologist if they feel it is appropriate. The educational psychology service can assess your child in a thorough and comprehensive way and offer advice to teachers and parents about how to manage your child's particular difficulties. A school can place children on a statement of special educational need. These start off at stage one for mild difficulties, and progress to stage 4 for more complex difficulties. At stage three, an educational psychologist should become involved if they have not been before. You can contact the educational psychology department yourself if your school refuse to do this on your behalf or you have a disagreement with them. If your child is having emotional difficulties at school, is being bullied, does not want to attend or has been missing school without permission, contact the school and let them know. Talk to their teacher, year head or SENCO teacher and ask if the educational welfare officer needs to be involved. Education welfare officers often have social work training and are well equipped to offer advice and help. Some schools, particularly secondary schools and sixth form colleges employ school counsellors. They can offer your children a confidential environment in which to discuss worries and concerns. These counsellors are well placed to seek additional help within the education system. All schools have school doctors (community paediatricians) and school nurses. They sometimes offer counselling to children too. It depends on their training and interest. They will certainly follow up on any medical concerns you have. After the age of thirteen, every child will have a Connexions service worker. Connexions workers are sometimes trained as counsellors and have a responsibility for the general welfare of your child in school. They also have responsibility for careers |
advice. They will be happy to talk to you about your child and their future, though in their role, they have to respect the confidentiality wishes of children. Libraries In the UK you can find out about services and local support groups by visiting your local library. Most libraries have free access to the internet too. Some libraries have information notice boards where you can find information about various activities in your area. Internet If you have access to a computer you can search the internet for information. When doing a search on the internet, find groups local to your area by typing in the name of your area along with what you are searching for. For example, "Support for single parents Manchester UK" will be much more useful than "Single Parents." This will give you a list of single parents groups in Manchester, rather than results from all over the world. Search engines such as Yahoo, Bing, or Google are all good. If you want to make the most accurate searches read the instructions provided by search engines. If you need to find a telephone number of a person or organisation use this site NHS Direct The National Health Service has set up NHS Direct, available by telephone or on the internet. UK residents can ring NHS Direct on Tel: 0845 4647 (24 hours) This is a nurse run telephone advice and information service. It provides round the clock access to information and advice about health concerns, illness and health services. If you feel there is something wrong with you or someone you are caring for, an NHS Direct nurse will be able to advise. NHS Direct can help you decide whether you should take matters further and visit your doctor or attend hospital. The NHS Web-site is here: http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/ When to contact your doctor or other professionals about family difficulties? GP's will advise parents who are anxious about their child or family. If you have a worry or concern, it is better to act quickly and seek advice, rather than letting things get worse. Your local doctor will have access to a range of services. Depending on your difficulties, they can refer you to a health visitor, a counsellor, to adult mental health services, child mental health services, social services and to other specialists and organisations that may be useful to you. They may offer medication along with these services or other forms of treatment. Sometimes further medical investigations may be required at hospital - if a child has a persistent toileting problem or a hearing loss for example. For some family difficulties and mental health concerns you and your child may be referred to a child and adolescent mental health service (CAMHS). Sometimes these have friendlier names such as "Child and Family Centre" or "Family Therapy Service." Don't be put off by the term 'mental health'. In these services 'mental health' means anything from serious mental health difficulties such as anorexia or depression to milder conditions such as anxiety and separation difficulties. Most child and adolescent mental health services have become stricter about the type of cases they take on. Many only work with families and children whereto there is a clearly defined mental health problem such as self-harming or depression. CAMHS services usually work with children from 0-19 years old. Often the services are divided into 0-16 years and 16-19 years CAMHS services. This reflects the different needs of the client group. After 19, children with mental health difficulties are seen in adult psychiatric services. Child and adolescent mental health services have specialist workers such as psychiatrists, family therapists, play and art therapists, counsellors, CBT therapists and sometimes psychologists. They will meet with you and your child discuss your difficulties and offer specialist assessment and help. Some child and adolescent services have primary health care workers. These are not always employed in mental health and may be available in your local health centre. Primary health workers offer advice and help on a range of family issues. In some areas they run parenting groups. Parenting groups help people find better ways of managing children. A primary health worker can refer onto a child and adolescent mental health service if they feel it is required. Where there is family breakdown or risk of harm to children, social services may become involved. The health service and social services, as well as voluntary organisations have a duty to work together for the benefit of children and families where there is a risk to children's safety or a likelihood of family breakdown. Social services may offer advice to parents and act as a gateway to other service providers, but do not always get involved in family difficulties unless they are very serious. Social service departments have an official on duty at all times. They are called "duty social workers". If you ring the telephone operator you can ask to be put through to the duty professional social worker in you area. They will be able to advise and provide help if you need it in an emergency. You will find many useful articles in this site with links to other related resources on the internet.
UKCP: http://www.psychotherapy.org.uk/ Dennis Neill Family Therapist
|
||||||
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Family Therapy UK
