Children’s Mental Health Week: Chelsea uses volunteering and CAMHS support to turns life around after anxiety and self-harm at just 14

With around one in six children affected by mental health problems, supporting children and young people to be mentally healthy has never been more important.

Children’s Mental Health Week is 7 to 13 February. The theme is about growing together and using challenges and setbacks to help us grow.

As part of raising awareness for the week, we spoke to Chelsea, who at the age of 14 experienced anxiety, low mood and self-harm. With the support of the Trust’s Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS), she has turned her life around, from being someone who wouldn’t interact with anyone to a confident young person who volunteers, presents and has even been on the radio helping to raise awareness of mental health and the stigma that still surrounds it.    

Chelsea

Now 17, Chelsea hopes her story can help other young people going through a similar experience.  

Chelsea’s story:

“It was summer 2019, I was 14 at the time and experiencing anxiety and low mood” explains Chelsea. “I was a typical anxious teenager who wouldn’t interact at school or college. I was initially referred to the School Nurse but as my issues got more complex and I was self-harming, I was referred to the Child and Adult Mental Health Services (CAMHS) under the Crisis Team and it was when I met Natalie, my care-coordinator that my life turned around.”

Natalie introduced Chelsea to CAMHS involvement which works alongside the Trust Involvement, Experience and Volunteering (IEV) Team. This was so she could share her experiences with others in similar situations and help improve services for others.

“I was asked to be a volunteer in the garden group where I worked on a garden shed project with another young person. The shed, at the back of the CAMHS base on Lindsay Close in Mansfield, was only used for storage and we converted it into an outdoor therapy room for young people who struggle to sit in the CAMHS clinic. This involvement really helped me to express myself and learn how to approach certain situations.

Garden shed project

“I was also asked to get involved in altering the waiting area in Lindsay Close which young people and parents/carer had said was gloomy and intimidating with medical posters on the wall and felt too much like a doctor’s waiting room, which caused negative emotions.

“As the work progressed, I came out of my shell a bit more. Having that sort of focus and knowing it was for a good reason, and that it was going to improve my experience and having other young people there in the same situation really helped.

“It was a key breakthrough moment...joining in a volunteering role.”

“Natalie asked if I wanted to join the summer group as volunteer. I think that was a key breakthrough moment for me as I was joining in a volunteering role and not just as a young person attending the group. The role meant looking after the young people making sure they felt less anxious as they were timid and shy about interacting with other young people and clinicians on an informal basis. Seeing the positive feedback from others, like young people and clinicians really boosted my self-esteem.

“My confidence began to grow; my anxiety was in the back of my mind and my mindset was changing which helped with the anxiety and low mood. It solidified that I could do it and everything in the world wasn’t bad.”

Natalie suggested Chelsea might like to do a radio interview to talk about her experience and how her volunteering role with the Involvement team has helped her mental health.

“I was really nervous as volunteering in CAMHS was my security blanket, but the radio interview came natural to me as I was so passionate about the subject. It helped knowing that it wouldn’t just benefit me but would help others and raise awareness and I wanted to help break the stigma around mental health.

‘It’s a living miracle as I didn’t plan on making it to 16”

“Someone like me, who has been through it and is still going through it to an extent, is like a living miracle. I didn’t plan on making it to 16, so to have an intervention that I could take part in within the service is mind blowing and what it can do for you.”

Chelsea also presented a training session to representatives in the Trust’s CAMHS and perinatal services. The aim was to encourage CAMHS teams to help more young people get involved, to have their say and make informed choices which leads to improvement of the service and a better experience all round.

“If I had been asked last year to do the training session, I probably would have been a nervous wreck and would have said no.  I’m not afraid to say what I believe in or say what is right or wrong because I’ve learnt the skills, all through doing something that seems so little but has had such a huge impact. I have offered to come back to the CAMHS teams every six to twelve months to keep track of progress.

Elizabeth Allcock, Service Improvement Facilitator for the Trust’s community CAMHS said “It’s really amazing what Chelsea has done. There were a large number of people at the presentation to the CAMHS and perinatal staff which is a major deal for anyone. “Not only did she present it, but she also planned the whole presentation and brought all her ideas into it. It offered so much to the clinicians in terms of motivation and hearing it first-hand the impact it can have."

“To turn myself around from how I was for years, to now.
 I wouldn’t recognise myself”

The Trust’s CAMHS and the Trust Involvement, Experience and volunteering (IEV) team are working on a 12-month project in partnership with MH:2K, a youth-led organisation. MH:2K and young volunteers in CAMHS will work together to try and do more to give all young people a voice in CAMHS and across the Trust. Chelsea met recently with them to discuss plans for the project.

Chelsea said “I have got more involved now, it means meeting more people, but because of the confidence that has grown within, it’s just a breeze. The anxiety of speaking to young people isn’t really there anymore. It has made it so much easier to go up to people and that applies to everyday life.

To be where I am today, talking to people that I haven’t met before, doing training with involvement. It’s a massive change.

I haven’t had a self-harm attempt for over a year. To turn myself around from how I was for years, to now. I wouldn’t recognise myself.

LGBTQ rainbow creative art

Nottinghamshire CAMHS provides support for children and young people from 0-18 years across Nottingham City and Nottinghamshire County who may be experiencing mental health illness/ disorders or psychological distress. CAMHS work with young people whose functioning may be impaired as a consequence of mental health symptomology, to improve outcomes. CAMHS ensure that we include parents and carers within the care of young people accessing services. For more information on our Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services on our website:  https://www.nottinghamshirehealthcare.nhs.uk/camhs