Referrals can be sent to us by email, or post. We can accept referrals from your GP, school, or you can make a self-referral.

Our services have staff members responsible for being ‘on duty’ each day. This means that there will be someone available to answer telephone queries and concerns from young people, parents, carers, and professionals.

The duty worker will review your referral to check whether there are any possible risks to your child. If we do have any concerns about any immediate risks to the safety and wellbeing of your child, or we do not have enough information, we will contact you, and any other professionals involved to discuss this and to come up with a plan of care.

Once the duty worker has checked your referral it will be talked about with the wider CAMHS team. We discuss all referrals with the rest of the team to figure out the best way to provide care.

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Reasons we may not be able to accept a referral

Sometimes we are not able to accept a referral; this could be for one of these reasons:

• You and your family do not live in a borough that we provide a service to
• The referral may be more suitable for a different kind of service. This could be a specialist team equipped to help deal with complex problems. It could also be because your child may benefit from an alternative counselling service

Whatever the reason, we will write to you, and referrer to let them know, and suggest an appropriate alternative.

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Waiting for a service

Once we accept your child’s referral, we will add their name to our waiting list for a first assessment. We may see urgent referrals sooner if we think there is a significant risk to the child or young person.

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Get in contact

For further details about how to refer a child or young person to us, please go to our CAMHS services page to find our teams' contact information.

The main contact numbers for our services are listed below:

Croydon CAMHS

Phone: 020 3228 0000
When: Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm

Lambeth CAMHS

Phone: 020 3228 7370
When: Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm

Lewisham CAMHS

Phone: 020 7138 1250
When: Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm

Southwark CAMHS

Phone: 020 3228 7777
When: Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm

National and Specialist CAMHS

Phone: 020 3228 3381
When: Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm

Referral information and criteria for our national and specialist teams can be found on the national and specialist services website.