Child and Young People’s Services
Address: St. Luke’s Hospital, Pietà in front of the ex-emergency department.
Opening Hours: Monday to Saturday from 07:00am till 15:00pm.
The multidisciplinary team (MDT) is composed of child and adolescent psychiatrists, psychiatric trainees, nurses, psychologists, psychology practitioners, occupational therapists, social workers and a speech language pathologist.
Access to these services: by referral from the child/young person’s doctor.
Clinics
| Generic child and adolescent mental health clinics: offer an assessment and intervention to all young people aged 3-18 years with difficulties of anxiety, depression, psychosis, bipolar disorder, adjustment disorders, oppositional defiance disorders, attachment disorders. |
Specialised Clinics
Family Focused Clinic: multidisciplinary team that provides a specialized service to children and young people and their families. The aim of the clinic is to address situations where children’s and young people’s mental health is being negatively impacted by family dynamics.
Performance Mental Health Clinic: carries out multidisciplinary assessments for young people aged 13 to 25 years presenting with mental disorders such as performance anxiety or depression that may be affecting the overall function, including a loss of interest in their hobby such as music, art or a sport. This service serves to empower young people to address their mental health impediment through their respective discipline. In turn, young people will attend more extra-curricular and school-based interventions, maximising their potential.
Sport has been associated with improvements in mental health. Research has revealed a large efficacy of physical activity on depressive and anxiety symptoms in young people. Existing literature has also identified the need for proactive mental health services for young athletes in view of their unique requirements. Therefore, this clinic helps young people acquire their goals by beating their performance anxiety.
Dialectical Behavioural Therapy
Dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) is an evidence-based psychotherapy that can be useful in treating borderline personality disorder, mood disorders, suicidal ideation, and for change in behavioural patterns such as self-harm, and substance abuse. DBT combines standard cognitive-behavioural techniques for emotion regulation and reality-testing with concepts of distress tolerance, acceptance, and mindful awareness. It contains 4 modules consisting of emotional regulation, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness and mindfulness. Each module would entail 7 weekly sessions of 2 hours each and parent and adolescent groups are run concurrently.
Anger Management
The anger management group therapy is aimed at young people aged 8 to 18 years old. The goal of the group is to equip children and adolescents with a diagnosis of oppositional defiant disorder, ADHD, conduct disorder etc., with necessary skills to be able to better control their anger outbursts in different contexts. The professional carries out individual screening sessions with both child/adolescent and parents/caregivers. The parents/caregivers are invited to an information meeting in order to provide information regarding the programme and the skills used in order to further support the young person in controlling their anger. The group’s weekly sessions are held for 7 weeks (1 hour per week).
CAPES and CHIT
CAPES (Child & Adolescent Psychiatric Emergency Services) is an emergency 24/7 service which offers assessments for young people aged 3 to 18 years presenting with acute mental disorders. This means that one’s mental state is severe enough to make the person feel that their life or the life of others may be at risk and therefore require immediate attention.
The CHIT (Crisis Intervention and Home Treatment) service is comprised of an assertive outreach team which offers an intensive intervention to young people who have either been recently discharged from in-patient care or else they have attended CAPES and require extra support to address their mental health needs within the community. This service’s intervention is offered for a maximum length of 4 weeks, after which the young person is referred to Children and Young People’s Services (CYPS) for follow up care.
The Young People’s Unit (YPU)
YPU is a Tier 4 service, which offers intensive treatment interventions for young people who are suffering from severe mental disorders with a risk to self or others. The YPU provides assessment and treatment for young people who have complex health, behavioural and emotional needs. This centre offers a range of therapeutic educational, social and recreational facilities. The ethos of the YPU is to offer a calm and therapeutic environment, ensuring young people experience an ordinary routine during their stay by separating living and educational space.
All services referred to above are free of charge.
