Parents praise pilot scheme to support anxiety in young people
Families of children and young people experiencing anxiety, OCD and related difficulties have praised a pilot scheme in North Nottinghamshire.
The Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE) programme has supported 50 families since it began in October 2024. It is being trialled by Nottinghamshire Healthcare's North Nottinghamshire CAMHS team.
Support is offered in group sessions, which parents have identified as a strength. Parents are given advice and ideas to empower them to support their children and young people who are experiencing anxiety. To ensure all needs are met, some sessions have been delivered one to one with families.
Most families receive up to eight sessions but additional support has been provided for families experiencing more complex issues.
Ryan Smith, Clinical Lead for CAMHS North Nottinghamshire, said: This is a new treatment offer we have introduced to proactively address mental health needs before they escalate, reducing the likelihood of crisis presentations or long-term service dependency.
The support is particularly suited to families where the young person is unwilling or unable to engage in direct therapy, often due to high levels of anxiety, oppositional behaviour, or avoidance.
We're really pleased with the feedback we've had from families so far and we're now exploring how this approach can be incorporated into treatment pathways in other areas.
Parent feedback:
Thank you for inviting us to the group. It was friendly and non-threatening. We realised that we were not the only ones suffering with anxiety like this and meeting others in a similar position made us feel less isolated. The techniques around accommodating were very simple even though difficult in practice. My child is much less anxious now and I realise that in the past I was enabling anxiety to thrive.
The SPACE group was better than expected. I was pleasantly surprised at how simple and useful the advice was. I only wish we'd had it sooner.
I've felt empowered to deal with anxiety and to plan how to deal with future events.
Following the 12 months of the SPACE pilot, training is now being offered to other CAMHS community teams, through their family therapists for a roll out.
Dominic Gardner, Mental Health Care Group Director at Nottinghamshire Healthcare said:
We're delighted by the positive impact this programme has had on children and their families, and to see how the team's dedication is making a real difference. Expanding the programme to additional teams means even more families can benefit from this fantastic programme.
The team, are also training the Health Related Education Team (HRET) at Nottinghamshire County Council so there is a consistent message to both parents and schools.
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