YOUnited Self Referral

Welcome to YOUnited!

Thank you for considering reaching out to the YOUnited Referral Hub to get support around your mental health & wellbeing.

We welcome all young people - those who have accessed mental health services before, and those who are seeking support for the first time. Every help-seeking experience is different and we are committed to making this a positive one.

 

Please click here to complete a self-referral

 

We have included some information below that we feel may be important to understanding your referral:

 

Who is the referral going to?

The referral is going to the YOUnited referral hub, a partnership between four different organisations (please click on the links below if you need further information) offering mental health support to young people in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough:

Cambridge &Peterborough Foundation Trust (NHS) - hyperlinks,

Cambridge Community Services (including MHST),

Ormiston Families

Centre33

After receiving your referral information, the YOUnited team will review your information and decide which organisation above is best placed to offer you support. This could also mean that we may suggest a mental health service in your school. Please indicate on the referral if you do not want to receive a service in school (MHST). We will then get in touch with you either, by phone, text or letter to talk to you about next steps (see more information in ‘what to do until you hear from us’).

 

What do we offer support with?

We can help with a broad range of emotional or mental health needs. You may not be sure what is going on for you or what type of support may be best, but we have listed some examples below:

• Anxiety, Worries, Stress, Panic, OCD type behaviour
• Low mood, mood changes affecting routine, anger, depression, bereavement, feeling unhappy for a long time
• Relationship issues, family breakdown, conflict, loss, effects of bullying
• Traumatic experiences
• Exploring your identity (gender, culture, sexual etc.)
• Things putting you at risk (suicidal thoughts, self-harm, eating difficulties, drug and alcohol use etc.)
• Difficulties regulating your emotions
• Or anything else  that is affecting your mental wellbeing

In our first meeting, we will think together with you and decide together with you what type of support will be best.

 

What does support look like?

We offer various kinds of support around your mental health and wellbeing, tailored to your needs.

By filling in this form you are completing the first step in helping us to understand how we can support you.

The second step will be an invitation to speak with us in more detail about your needs. This conversation will include ensuring you understand all the options available to you. You can then choose what feels like the best fit of support for you.

Generally, we offer talking-based interventions (or using more creative ways to communicate). Some are based on cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) and are structured around anxiety and low mood. Some are less structured such as counselling.

We have a mixture of professionals working in the YOUnited Team includin counsellors, therapists & psychologists and they all are trained to make you feel safe and understood.

We try where possible to offer a choice of engaging in support in person, online or by phone.

 

Medical guidelines advise against offering medication first time for depression or anxiety to young people under the age of 18 before a course of psychological treatment. When therapy alone is not effective we may offer medication alongside talking therapy.

 

Why do we need this information

The below form is intended to help us to understand what you are currently struggling with, so we can respond in the most helpful way. Some questions are required to be filled while others allow you to say as much or as little as you want at this stage. The most important aim of this form is to understand what support you are looking for.

Some of the questions are for data collection purposes. This helps us to understand who is accessing support and what we can do to improve access to our services for young people.

The questionnaire is divided into three sections:

1. Consent about information sharing between services
2. General information about yourself (question 5-25)
3. What’s going on for you at the moment (question 26 onwards)

 

Who will know about my referral and see my information

We are asking you specifically for two separate consents regarding the sharing of your information:

• 1) Consent to share with YOUnited

Your information will be stored securely in a database shared between the 4 organisations listed above.

You will then be offered a first appointment with one of the partner agencies or they will advise/signpost you to the appropriate service to support your needs.

The information you share is confidential unless you give permission for records to be shared with other NHS staff such as your GP (Doctor) or similar.

In circumstances where we are concerned about risk of harm to yourself and/or others we may want to speak to someone else about support to keep you safe. We would always try and speak to you first. Therefore, will be asking you for contact details of parents (carers/guardians) in case we are worried about you, but unable to speak with you.

• 2) Consent to share with other medical professionals

We are using the same recording system as other medical professionals such as your GP, staff in hospital or other NHS professionals. We will therefore ask you if you consent to your records being shared with other medical professionals. This would mean:

• We can view other health related records on your file and
• Other professionals can view our records on a strictly need-to-know basis.

This can sometimes be helpful to get you to the right support quickly. However, we can support you regardless of this consent.

 

Support until you hear from us

Once we have read your referral and decided which service is best to support your needs, we will contact you via letter.

This letter will be indicating the approx. waiting times for a first appointment (up to 18 weeks). You can then either book your own appointment with a link sent via text or you will receive a letter with the appointment time and date.

If we can see that you are attending a school that has Mental Health Support (hyperlink to MHST schools) we may transfer you to that team and we will send you a letter explaining the service.

If you feel unsafe, in crisis and need immediate help you can call the NHS First response Service on 111 Option for Mental Health Support and a mental health professional can guide you to further support.

Whilst you are waiting to hear from us you may also want to consider speaking to a trusted adult, your GP or your local A&E Department.

We hope you found this information useful and are looking forward to receiving your referral.

If you have any difficulties completing the form, please get in touch by calling 0300 3000 830 (please leave a message) or emailing younited@cpft.nhs.uk.