CAMHS Participation - West Sussex

Participation means actively involving young people in decision-making on issues that affect them. Young people make fantastic contributions to communities and feel empowered themselves when they participate. As experts on what it is like to use CAMHS services, young people guide us on what positive change needs to look like. 

You can get involved with as much or as little as you would like - it is your own choice. If you feel you’d like to get involved, but are not sure how, get in touch and we’ll work out together what kind of thing might suit you.

Here are some examples:

• Telling us what you think by email or in person. We’ve got lots of questions, and we really want to hear your thoughts
• Join a group, voice your opinions, listen to others, and then work out together how to take ideas forward
• Be a part of developing new resources that make the CAMHS experience better for others – for example, how would you make this web page better?
• Sit on an interview panel to help us select the sort of clinician you’d like to work with

By joining in with participation you will:

• Have the opportunity to meet other young people that have also used our services
• Be involved with making changes happen on the issues that you really care about
• Learn or develop new skills, grow in self-confidence and boost your own CV
• Get paid for your time when helping us on interview panels and steering groups

The Participation team has launched a Padlet for you to get involved in helping to make decision that affect you.

You can access the Padlet here.

Or if you'd rather, you can contact our West Sussex CAMHS Participation Manager, Larissa Caines, by emailing larissa.caines@spft.nhs.uk.

We find it very helpful to also ask parents or guardians for their feedback on our services. You can consent to whether you want us to contact your parents/guardian about becoming involved.

Please note. You would not be taking part in the same activities and they would not be told what feedback you give.