Margaret Conlon
The role of primary mental health workers in child and adolescent mental health services in Scotland
Conlon, Margaret
Authors
Abstract
It is estimated that approximately 10% of children and young people in Scotland have mental health problems (Scottish Government, 2008), resulting in a rapidly increasing need for child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS). Primary mental health workers (PMHW) have been identified as one of the key professional groups within a multidisciplinary CAMHS team to progress the agenda of early intervention and identification of mental health problems among children and young people. One discrete aspect of the PMHW role is the facilitation and delivery of consultation services to a wide range of agencies. Consultation, in this context, is understood as a community activity for disseminating knowledge, creating understanding and facilitating non‐CAMH professionals to support children and young people with psychological difficulties (Scottish Executive, 2005). This paper discusses a smallscale study that aims to deconstruct the concept of consultation and explore the professional expertise and service requirements necessary for effective delivery. It concludes that complex and multifaceted skills are required if a consultation is to be meaningful and effective. Consequently, and despite competing discourse, there remains a strong debate for retaining the role of the PMHW, specifically for the delivery of early intervention and health promotion activities, such as consultation. The study took place in Scotland, but UK‐wide data is drawn on to provide a more comprehensive picture.
Citation
Conlon, M. (2009). The role of primary mental health workers in child and adolescent mental health services in Scotland. Journal of Mental Health Training, Education and Practice, 4(4), 21-25. https://doi.org/10.1108/17556228200900029
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Publication Date | Dec 11, 2009 |
Deposit Date | May 15, 2015 |
Journal | The Journal of Mental Health Training, Education and Practice |
Print ISSN | 1755-6228 |
Electronic ISSN | 2042-8707 |
Publisher | Emerald |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 4 |
Issue | 4 |
Pages | 21-25 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/17556228200900029 |
Keywords | Consultation services; Primary mental health worker; Child and adolescent mental health services |
Public URL | http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/id/eprint/8180 |
Downloadable Citations
About Edinburgh Napier Research Repository
Administrator e-mail: repository@napier.ac.uk
This application uses the following open-source libraries:
SheetJS Community Edition
Apache License Version 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/)
PDF.js
Apache License Version 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/)
Font Awesome
SIL OFL 1.1 (http://scripts.sil.org/OFL)
MIT License (http://opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.html)
CC BY 3.0 ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)
Powered by Worktribe © 2025
Advanced Search