SERVICE DETAILS
Service Update - Covid-19
The FOTA CAMHS project is currently running remotely. Christine will be holding appointments by phone, video call, or text, and will continue to provide email and text support between appointments. CAMHS clinicians, please phone to make referrals.
CORONAVIRUS – INFORMATION FOR PARTICIPANTS
We know many of you may be feeling anxious about the virus, and the uncertainty around changes being made at school, at activities, or at home. We are available to talk with participants who are worried about anything, and to adapt DofE during these circumstances.
What does a phone meeting mean?
We will phone, video call, or text you at appointment times (whichever you prefer), in addition to text and email support between appointments. Here is how a phone meeting would go – it’s very similar to an in-person one!
Expeditions
For 2021 Expeditions, you can sign up to the waiting list at https://www.fota.org.uk/camhs.
Launched in 2006, this project works in partnership with NHS Lothian’s Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) to support young people with experience of mental health difficulties to participate in the Duke of Edinburgh's Award (DofE).
The project is delivered through a community based mentoring scheme for young people.
Funding has been secured from the Big Lottery Fund and Children in Need to extend project provision beyond Edinburgh into The Lothians through to 2020.
We aim to support and mentor 50 young people per year through their Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. We provide one to one support, group work activities and tailored expeditions to meet the needs of all young people involved.
ADAPTING TO THE CORONAVIRUS LOCKDOWN
During the lockdown we adapted our one-to-one support service by offering phone and video appointments. We were well prepared for that change as we already supported young people via text, email, and phone in between in-person meetings.
The biggest change of course has been the cancellation of activities. Young people can no longer attend regular volunteering, gym or swim sessions, or lessons, and of course for a service trying to reduce social isolation, a blanket confinement of people to their houses was a major blow. However, we have been so impressed with the resilience of our participants in adapting and even embracing the changes to their activities.
Some examples of Skill sections undertaken at home include:
- Learning to cook and bake
- Teaching themselves to knit, crochet, and sew
- Playing music
- Learning sign language
- Learning French,
- Writing about mental health
- Learning to code and build websites
- Writing their first CV… to name a few!
For the Physical section, as with the general population, many young people have taken to going for long walks in their local area. Everyone’s dogs are getting a lot of exercise! Others have been following yoga or fitness videos, or cycling or using a stationary bike.
The Volunteering section was the trickiest to adapt to the lockdown as most places had to close. However, many young people have:
- Supported family, neighbours, and local community members who have been self-isolating
- Crafted blankets, hats, and twiddle muffs (for dementia patients) to donate
- Done online volunteering like MapSwipe
Impact of Lockdown
We noted that the lockdown affected people differently. While many miss their routine and activities, for several young people, the lockdown provided a reprieve from major stressors, such as exams, balancing school and jobs, or trying to fit our society’s often narrow or one-size-fits-all expectations. This highlights to us the many ways in which our “normal” day-to-day society and education systems can be overwhelming and exhausting for young people, especially those with disabilities, neurodivergencies, or struggling with their mental health.
Some young people have found that with the increase in time on their hands, they are spending more time on their DofE before, and several participants have flown through the sections of their award and even finished a level and started the next level during lockdown. Participants have said it gives them something to focus on, something to do, and a way to keep motivated when you know you will be sharing your progress in the weekly online meetup or working towards a bigger goal like a DofE award.
Another big change was the kinds of conversations we had with our participants. Normally, we focus a lot on choosing, organising, and supporting participants to participate in activities. With many of those activities cancelled, and most people’s day to day lives drastically altered, we found ourselves have closer conversations with some young people about their mental health and home lives.
Online Activity Groups
As the lockdown wore on and everyone became a Zoom guru (or at least apprentice), we started offering small online activity groups. We currently run two knit/crochet groups that meet weekly to craft and chat, and are about to start a nature connection group. Participants will be given weekly tasks to do in their local wild spaces and then share these experiences in a weekly Zoom meeting.
