CAMHS Talk

In this episode, young people Madie, Zoe & Zawad join trainee clinical psychologist Leighton and host Marianne, to deep dive into the topic of Dyspraxia. They share their unique experiences with discovering their diagnosis and take us on a personal journey of understanding how Dyspraxia affects their daily lives. Some of them had their diagnoses quite recently and talk about advocating for their health when they saw the signs, it's inspirational to hear how their diagnosis finally helped them make sense of their world and understanding themselves.

In this episode, Molly and Sassie are joined by young people Alex and Sharmin, as well as Sanctuary Cafe staff Zahra and Betty, to discuss what the Young Person Sanctuaries are and what to expect as a young person visiting for the first time. It's a great resource in the community for young people (14-17 yrs) to have a safe space to go to, have someone to talk to, or just be in the space for some time. The different locations are listed below:

Luton Young Person’s Sanctuary:

Young Persons Hub, ResoLUTiONs, 89 Castle Street, Luton LU1 3AJ: Monday – Sunday 4pm – 10pm

Please note: ResoLUTiONS has two buildings, one located in Victoria Street and one location in Castle Street. We are based in Castle Street, opposite Matalan.

Bedford Young Person’s Sanctuary:

CAMHS, 5-7 Rush Court, Bedford MK40 3JT: (7 days a week) 

The Bedford Young Person’s Sanctuary is open on Monday – Friday from 5.00pm -10.00pm, Saturday – Sunday 4pm – 10pm.

Central Bedfordshire Young Person’s Sanctuary:

Leighton Buzzard; Meadow Way Community Centre, Leighton Buzzard LU7 3FS 

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 4pm – 10pm

Houghton Regis; Houghton Regis Children’s Centre, Tithe Farm Neighbourhood Centre, Tithe Farm Road, Houghton Regis, Dunstable, LU5 5JB

Monday and Tuesday 4pm – 10pm

Sandy; Sandy Children’s Centre, Laburnum Road, Sandy, Bedfordshire, SG19 1HQ

Opening Saturday 30th September

Saturday and Sunday 4pm – 10pm

If you would like further information about the Young Person’s Sanctuary, please email on: [email protected]

In this podcast, our host Molly talks to young people Az and Ash, who are joined by CAMHS staff Sassie, Mack and Jay to reflect post-Pride month about what pride means to them. Listen in on the conversation as each person explores from their personal experience, their journey to PRIDE.

Gender dysphoria: a sense of unease that a person may have because of a mismatch between their biological sex and their gender identity. (NHS)

Gender euphoria: comfort/joy that happens when gender expression is aligned with identity.

Rainbow capitalism: when companies commercialise and claim to support the rights of the LGBTQ+ community (especially during Pride) mainly for profit and improved brand image.

Resources:

Rainbow Bedfordshire: #RainbowBedfordshire | East London NHS Foundation Trust (elft.nhs.uk)

Contact Rainbow Bedfordshire: [email protected]

Better Days for BLMK: @betterdaysblmk across all social media

Pride in Luton: https://prideinluton.org/

In this Podcast Marianne and Molly are joined by Young People Alex and Maiya, to discuss self harm, the misconceptions and how to take care of yourself. They are also joined by Bongi, a CAMHS nurse who offers their unique perspective. The podcast looks at defining self-harm in a subjective way and dispelling harmful rhetoric surrounding misconceptions. The young people offer their advice and resources they've found helpful. Below are some of the resources mentioned in the podcast: 

*TW*: This podcast may contain sensitive content, while we intend for our podcasts to be educational and insightful, our priority is your well being. If you feel overwhelmed by the content, please do take a break from listening in order to care for your well being.

Resources:

Text "Reflect" to 85258 - if you're feeling anxious, lonely, overwhelmed or not quite yourself - FREE and anonymous

The Butterfly Project - https://www.elysiumhealthcare.co.uk/butterflyproject/

In this Podcast Molly and Marianne are joined by Young People Leah and Sharmin, to discuss exam stress and surrounding issues.

Looking at their own experiences with exam seasons and their coping strategies, the CAMHS team and Young People explore available support, the importance of boundaries and mental health, as well as give advice to teachers and parents on how best to support Young People during these stressful times.

In this episode, we introduce Molly as a new host, joined by Ash, Mack, Jay and Sassie to discuss LGBTQ+ community safety. We highlight the importance of safe spaces and how to create an accessible and comfortable environment for LGBTQ+ people. We also share experiences of feeling supported, genuine allyship and gestures of validation.

Gender dysphoria: a sense of unease that a person may have because of a mismatch between their biological sex and their gender identity. (NHS)

Gender euphoria: comfort/ joy that happens when gender expression is aligned with identity.

Rainbow capitalism: when companies commercialise and claim to support the rights of the LGBTQ+ community (especially during Pride) mainly for profit and improved brand image.

Contact Rainbow Bedfordshire: [email protected]

Better Days for BLMK: @betterdaysblmk across all social media

Pride in Luton

https://prideinluton.org/

Luton Sexual Health

https://www.lutonsexualhealth.org.uk/info-advice/lgbtq/

Q Youth

https://www.qalliance.org.uk/youth-services/

[00:00] Introductions

[01:40] What are Safe Spaces?

[05:15] Allyship and Activism, actual vs toxic

[12:47] Validation and Acceptance

[27:00] Fear of going out/ Non-Safe Spaces

[37:45] Local Safe Spaces

[42:40] Outro

Co-hosts Marianne and Kim are joined by three young people, Maddie, Sam and Zoe, with lived experience of autism to discuss the misconceptions of autism in females and those assigned female at birth, experiences at school and tips on how to better support people with autism. They are also joined by Tyrone and Freya from the Mental Health Schools Team who work with young people in schools.

Abbreviations used throughout

ASC: Autism Spectrum Condition

ASD: Autism Spectrum Disorder (Old Term)

MHST: Mental Health Schools Team

EHCP: Education, Health and Care Plan.

TA: Teaching Assistants

Immie Swain: How to spot signs of Autism in pupils https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8hrFwfhwNw

The Times Educational Supplement: ‘Lack of teacher training ‘hitting autistic pupils’ education’

https://www.tes.com/magazine/news/general/lack-teacher-training-hitting-autistic-pupils-education

[00:00:22] Introductions

[00:06:06] Misconceptions of Autism in Females

[00:11:19] Masking

[00:14:43] The Effects of Age of Diagnosis

[00:18:07] Autism Diagnosis and School Support

[00:23:30] Strategies for coping with Autism

[00:30:40] Sensory Overloads

[00:35:00] Bullying

[00:40:18] Special Interests

[00:43:04] Outro

In this episode, we meet Kim, a participation support worker who joins Marianne, Molly and Maddie to discuss the representation of mental health in media. We also are joined by Kieran, to bring his clinical therapist in training perspective to the discussion.

In this episode we meet Marianne, who will be sharing CAMHSTalk hosting duties alongside Niki and Aisling moving forward, and discuss everyone's favourite thing... exams! Marianne and Aisling are joined by Molly and Shana to share their experiences of exams (before and after COVID), the importance of looking after your mental health and share helpful advice as we head into exam season.

Aisling Callaghan- Participation Lead

Marianne Bahadur- Participation Worker

Shana- ex CAMHS service user

Molly- ex CAMHS service user

Trigger warning: This episode explores depression and references suicide, please look after yourself and exercise self care when listening.

In this episode, Niki and Aisling are joined by Keeley, Ashleigh, Jay and Shana to discuss depression. We talk about our experiences of depression and how it has impacted our lives, including masking our feelings and symptoms our friends and family noticed. We also share helpful ways we have found to cope, what people can do to help and support, and our experiences accessing therapy and medication.

Niki Scott- CAMHS Participation Lead

Aisling Callaghan- CAMHS Participation Lead

Keeley- CAMHS service user

Ashleigh- CAMHS service user

Shana- ex CAMHS service user

Jay- ex CAMHS service user