Your rights at CAMHS – for 11-18 year olds

How should CAMHS treat me?

The support we get from CAMHS usually depends on where we live and what we′re feeling and experiencing.

No matter what we′re getting help for, we should always expect CAMHS to treat us with fairness. But there is a difference between best practice and legal rights.

Based on best practice recommendations, CAMHS should:

• Treat us with respect
• Give us information about what they can offer and how they can support us
• Listen to our views
• Give us time to ask questions about our treatment and support and try to answer them
• Involve us in decisions and let us make choices about our treatment, using a care plan

Based on our legal rights, CAMHS should do the following:

• Not discriminate against us.
• Keep our personal information confidential. However, someone might break confidentiality to keep us safe. Find out more in our guide to understanding confidentiality.
• Tell us how we can complain about how CAMHS have treated us.
• Give us information which the NHS holds about us, if we ask for it.

Usually, we have a right to consent to any decisions about our care. But sometimes we can′t make choices about our care, or we might have different rights. Like if we′re sectioned, or if we can′t consent for any other reason.

CAMHS should listen to you and take you seriously.

There are differences in what you're entitled to depending on where you live:

What problems could I face and what can I do about it?

We won′t all have problems with our treatment and support at CAMHS. But some things might not go the way they should.

If you're not happy with your experience at CAMHS, try and talk to your care team first to tell them what you need.

If you don't feel comfortable talking to your care team, you could ask a trusted adult to help you. You could also get support from an advocate.

To help ask for what you need, try thinking about:

• The problem you're facing
• How it affects you
• Why you would like things to be different
• How you would like things to change
• How CAMHS can help change things
• What your rights are

Once you've prepared what you'd like to say, talk to the person in charge of your care. This might be your care co-ordinator, for example. You can do this face-to-face, by phone, email or letter. If you can't contact them, you could ask the receptionist to pass on your message.

Remember: it's OK to ask for what you need. You deserve to get help in a way that works for you. By working with your CAMHS team to fix any problems, you can get the most out of your care.

Keep reading for examples of problems other young people have faced. And what you can do about them.

You don't get on with professionals at CAMHS

You can ask to change therapist or to work with different people instead. You can also make a complaint if you feel like CAMHS have treated you unfairly.

If you don’t like the worker, tell someone, don′t keep it to yourself and try and get it changed. If CAMHS say something, make sure they follow up on it. Only because I kept nagging them that they went through with it – Mollie, 18

You don't like or agree with your care plan

Over time, you might try different types of treatment and support. You'll might like some of them more than others, and that's OK. Not every treatment works for everyone.

You have the right to ask for something different. You could ask CAMHS to talk to you about other types of treatment and support available. If you′re able to make decisions about your care, they should ask you to consent before making any changes to your care plan.

Don't give up if one therapist or type of therapy isn′t for you. It took me a long time to find the combination of medication and therapy that works for me. Try not to lose hope, there is something that will work for you – Chloe, 17

You're struggling with how your appointments work

You can ask to:

• Change your appointment type, like whether you meet in person or online
• Change the appointment time or date
• Have your appointments in the same place where possible
• Have reasonable adjustments, if you have a disability or you're neurodivergent

You experience discrimination or CAMHS are not meeting your needs

The Equality Act 2010 is a law that protects us from discrimination and gives us the right to challenge it. You have a right to get support that meets your needs, like to:

• Have a interpreter if English isn′t your first language
• Work with someone who is a different or same gender as you
• Work with someone who is the same ethnicity, race or religion as you

Some services can sometimes treat us unfairly because of who we are. This is called discrimination. If you experience discrimination, that's not OK, and you deserve support.

You could make a complaint. But if you′ve tried this and nothing has helped, you could speak to a solicitor. They can talk you through your options and possibly help you take legal action against CAMHS.

Solicitors can be expensive, but some offer a first consultation for free, or fixed costs to find out about your situation. For more information about finding a solicitor, visit the Law Society website.

Experiencing discrimination can be really difficult. It can make us feel isolated and anxious. As well as reporting it, talk about how you feel with people you trust and find ways to look after yourself.

You don't feel listened to

It′s important to talk to your care team. But if this feels overwhelming, you could write an email or letter to them instead. This can help you to say everything you want to say.

You can also ask for support from an advocate or trusted adult. They can help you to speak up and make sure that CAMHS take you seriously.

You want to stop receiving support from CAMHS

You might be finding treatment difficult. Or the support you′re getting might feel unhelpful or harmful.

You can ask to stop seeing CAMHS. But it′s best if this is a joint decision between you, your parent, guardian or carer, and health professionals.

Your team might look at the progress you have made and what is working. And the problems you′ve experienced. You might not be able to leave CAMHS if your team feel that you′re too unwell. We have more information if you're in hospital for your mental health.

It′s important to talk about what you need. You may need to involve a trusted adult or advocate too, if you′re uncomfortable talking to your care team.

Giving your feedback to improve CAMHS

Some CAMHS have participation groups or youth advisory groups where you can share your ideas and help make things better. You could:

• Interview CAMHS staff
• Deliver training or presentations
• Share your experiences of CAMHS to help improve services

If you're in Wales, you can also do this through Llais.

Ask your CAMHS team how you could get involved or give feedback. Your voice is important.

I've done a lot of advocacy and lived experience work. It′s important that young people should know if something is not right and speak up. This is something that was taking over my life and now I′m in control of it – Katie, 18