New Family Ambassador service for CAMHS inpatients
A new service to support parents and carers has been launched by the CAMHS Collaborative on behalf of the East Midlands Alliance.
The East Midlands Family Ambassador service is a team of non-clinical professionals with lived experience providing support for parents and carers who have a young person in a CAMHS Tier 4 inpatient ward.
Parents and carers have a unique perspective on the care needs of their young person and the Family Ambassadors will help them to get their voice heard, so that they feel empowered to become an equal partner in their young person’s care.
The team can also provide support to parents and carers in a wide range of areas to meet their family’s needs, including:
- Helping parents / carers to navigate their young person’s inpatient journey, providing emotional and practical support.
- Supporting parents / carers to understand the inpatient system and processes.
- Enabling parents / carers to raise concerns and where necessary take action to escalate those concerns if required.
- Provide pre-meeting and post-meeting support and information.
The East Midlands Family Ambassador Team will support parents and carers across a number of CAMHS Tier 4 inpatient providers within the East Midlands region:
- Seacole, Sitwell and Stowe at St Andrew’s Healthcare, Northampton
- The Sett, Northampton
- The Burrows, Northampton
- Hopewood, Nottingham
- The Beacon, Leicester
- Ellern Mede, Derby
For more information about the Family Ambassador service, you can email empc.familyambassador@nhft.nhs.uk.