This week, we continue our Ask a Tinto Expert series with a discussion around children’s mental health with clinical psychologist, Dr Caroline Gibbs.

In the podcast, we talk about how the difficulties of the last 18 months have affected our children’s mental health, including how vulnerable children have become even more vulnerable.

We cover children’s anxiety and the signs that your children might be struggling, including how children often use physical symptoms, such as a tummy ache, to explain their emotions.

We also discuss the best way to access mental health services and the impact children’s mental health can have on parents - and vice versa - and how we can better support them too.

Thank you so much for listening. If you’d like to know more about what we discussed, here are some resources that you may find useful

Anna Freud – Some very helpful Covid research and support/advice for parents and for professionals - https://www.annafreud.org/coronavirus-support/support-for-mental-health-professionals/

Sutton Trust – Early Years research - https://www.suttontrust.com/our-research/coronavirus-impacts-early-years/

Covid 19 Early Years Research Round-Up - http://www.crec.co.uk/announcements/covid-19-impact-early-years-research-round-up

Digestible book aimed at parents whose children are experiencing anxiety:

Helping Your Child with Fears and Worries 2nd Edition. Cathy Cresswell and Lucy Willetts –

Mental Health Tier System

Tier 1: Primary care and first line support: GP, school, nurses, or school-based support e.g. school counsellor

Tier 2: This is what we often refer to as early help, but these tend to be more

targeted services, so you might have a Child and Adolescent Mental Health

Service (CAMHS) service here offering support for mild-moderate mental

health difficulties

Tier 3: Here you have specialist CAMHS, who would tend to see those with

more severe or enduring mental health difficulties, complex: comorbidities.

Here you would have an MDT approach, so you might have input from a range

of professionals including talking therapists and psychiatry. This is also where

specialist CAMHS sits, e.g. eating disorder services, neurodevelopmental

assessment services.

Tier 4: This is where our inpatient services sit and also what we call outreach

services, who aim to prevent children/YP needing an admission and who may

therefore offer a more intensive service, for example, several appts a week for

a short period until things have settled down a bit.