Mum shares her frustration in bid to access care services for son

VIDEO POSTED AFTER TRYING TO GET MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT

accepted. In the video, Philippa was upset but explained she felt she had to post the video to social media to raise awareness about how hard it is to access the right support for children’s mental health.

She said after the experience she felt worthless, devastated, emotional and let down.

She also said she felt disheartened by the system and that support options were “few and far between”.

She demanded changes to the system (of referrals) and said “blaming it on autism and ADHD is not right”. After posting the video, Philippa said that CAMHS had been in touch with an apology.

An appointment for Joshua has now been arranged.

The 34-year-old took to Facebook with her video to air her frustrations, with a caption including: “I’ve had to post this. I want to let people know how hard it is to access the right support around children’s mental health and mental health in general.

“For about nine years we have been batted from pillar to post with different services. Each time we were hopeful for some help but no, we would just get dropped like a hat.

“Why would they call me on the day of our assessment after going to their internal panel to say Josh had been accepted, then to wait six weeks for an actual appointment, only to be told there has been an error and they won’t be involved?

“I pray it isn’t too late. Posting this is the absolute last resort for me, personally.” Breaking down in the video she said: “It’s an absolute bloody nightmare, it really is and I’m sorry to come on here and cry about it. “Where is our mental health support for our young people, for our children, where is it? We can only get help when it’s too late. It’s absolutely dreadful. It really is, it’s just a long, tiring journey.” Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust has been approached for a comment.

We can only get help when it’s too late. It’s just a long, tiring journey

Philippa Clarke, pictured

A MUM trying to access children’s mental health services has shared her experience after she failed to arrange an appointment for her son – despite initially being told she would get one. Philippa Clarke, from Stoney Stanton, recorded a video saying she was initially told her son, 12-year-old Joshua, had been accepted as a referral into the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). But the 34-year-old was later told by phone a mistake had been made and Joshua’s referral had not been