AQW 2793/22-27

Mr Nick Mathison
Alliance Party
Strangford

Tabled Date: 05/09/2022
Answered On Date: 21/09/2022
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Education to detail the protocol for counsellors, working on the Independent Counselling Service for Schools, to refer students on to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services.

Answer:

Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in Northern Ireland work within a stepped care model. The ICSS is identified as part of Step 2 of the CAMHS Stepped Care Model and is an early intervention approach. When a school’s counsellor needs to make a referral to CAMHS they can make this referral directly subject to certain specified conditions and threshold criteria.

Further information on the threshold criteria is detailed in the following link https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/camhs.