Child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) low secure services
A service designed to meet a young person’s mental health needs safely and effectively, in the least restrictive environment.
We offer a service for young people who need an intensive therapeutic and rehabilitative programme in a low secure setting. Priory provides low secure services for young people with complex mental health presentations that may include serious self-harm and complex eating disorders.
Service overview
Priory’s low secure services have an enviable record of success with young people who have found it difficult to progress in other settings. A safe and nurturing approach underpins the treatment plan for a young person. Interventions may include:
- Specialist individual therapy using specific models such as schema therapy, and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT)
- Dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT), including weekly groups, top-up sessions, homework and ‘moment-by-moment’ coaching on the ward by nursing staff
- Family therapy
- A comprehensive rehabilitation programme led by our occupational therapy team, including building life skills in community settings
- Creative therapies including art therapy
- An expert multidisciplinary team led by a consultant psychiatrist
- Individualised nursing care plans and keyworker sessions
- Specialist assessments and regular care programme approach (CPA) review meetings
- Comprehensive planning of discharge packages to maximise ongoing progress
- Social and recreational activities, including physical exercise and sport
Referrals and admissions
Our low secure services use an innovative and collaborative approach to work with young people who:
- Present with significant emotional difficulties and severe self-harming behaviours
- May struggle with dietary restriction and need nasogastric tube feeding
- May have escalated in their risks and become ‘stuck’ within an inpatient setting
- May have suffered major trauma and present with complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD), attachment disorder or an emerging personality disorder
- Need the safety of a secure setting
This service provides specialist low secure inpatient treatment for young people referred from other inpatient CAMHS services, local authority funded children services or tier 3 community services.
All referrals receive a full pre-admission assessment by members of the multidisciplinary team. All admissions are planned and emergency admissions are not generally available.
Contact us for help, referrals or more information
For further information on Priory services offered to the NHS, or to make a referral, please call our dedicated 24/7 customer service centre.