What is Participation?

Participation means involving service users and their carers in the decision-making processes within the service. It is all about co-production with those with lived experience of using services.

We are a team dedicated to giving you a voice and providing you with opportunities to contribute to service development and improvement.

The Participation Team

Our participation team is made up of young people, with experience of using mental health services, and parents, with experience of caring for a child / young person under the care of our CAMHS service.

All of the people with lived experience who facilitate groups are employed by the service and have undertaken training in specific models of peer support.

Get involved

We are passionate about involving both our service users and their families and carers in decisions made within the service and about their care. Our team ensures that you have the space and opportunity to have your voice heard.

Our team also offers support groups for both our service users and their carers, which are run by staff with their own lived experience of caring for a young person under mental health services or being under the services themselves.

Offer to our children and young people

'Our Peer Space' is an inclusive fortnightly social group, led by young people with lived experience of being under mental health services. Each session is carefully planned with a different activity (such as pottery painting, online escape rooms, Dungeons & Dragons, and no-heat baking), so there is something for everyone. You are welcome to attend as many or as few sessions as you would like. 

Alternating between online and face-to- face sessions (held at Temple House), Our Peer Space combines activities that promote recovery and which provide plenty of opportunities to have your voice heard about our service development and improvement. This space is open to anyone who has had their initial CAMHS assessment and is under our service. There are no exclusion criteria, and attendees are encouraged to be unapologetically themselves.

To get involved in Our Peer Space, please click here and fill out the sign up form. Alternatively, please email dhcft.camhsparticipation@nhs.net. 

If you would like to meet the lead facilitator prior to joining the group, please let us know on the sign up form or email, and we can arrange a meeting.

Offer to parents and carers

Our Parent / Carer Peer Support Workers are parents who have been on your journey and know some of the difficulties you may be facing.

We offer support groups that run on a fortnightly basis, via Microsoft Teams (Monday evenings at 7:00-8:30pm), where you can come along and share as much or as little as you would like to. As parents / carers, we together to help each other and share tips around some of the issues that you may be facing with your young person. Additionally, we can signpost you to other services that may also be able to support you. 

Whether your child is currently accessing CAMHS or they are on the waiting list, we are here for you.

If you would like to join one of our peer support groups, please either: 

• Speak to your child's CAMHS Care Coordinator and they can refer you 
• Or refer yourself by emailing dhcft.camhsparentsupport@nhs.net (please include your young person's name and date of birth). 

If you prefer, we can offer you a 1-1 phone call, a 1-1 video chat (via Teams), or a 1-1 face-to-face session (at one of our CAMHS bases) - whichever works best for you!

Get in touch with our team

For general Participation service queries, please email us at dhcft.camhsparticipation@nhs.net. 

For parent / carer-specific queries, please email dhcft.camhsparentsupport@nhs.net.

Please note, to access the CAMHS Participation Services, you must be a service user or carer of a young person under our CAMHS services. Thank you.

The CAMHS Participation services are NOT a helpline or crisis service. For emergencies, please contact the CAMHS Duty Line at 0300 123 9164 (Mon-Fri, 9am - 5pm) or the Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust 24/7 mental health helpline at 0800 028 0077.

Follow us on Instagram @Derby_CAMHS_Participation. Please click the link below.