Specialist Counselling Service for children and young people

Please note: this service is available in Mid-Essex, Castle Point and Rochford and Southend.

As part of our response to Covid-19, and the increase in demand for mental health support for our children and young people, a new service has recently been commissioned to support children and young people aged 5-18 years (or up to 25 if in receipt of an Education, Health and Care Plan). Kids Inspire, Open Door and South East and Central Essex Mind have been commissioned as a partnership to deliver a specialist early intervention service for children and young people with emerging mental health issues (further information on each provider attached). The three organisations will see children and young people with any of the following issues:

• low level depression
• anxiety
• low mood
• worries and concerns arising from Covid-19

If you have seen a child or young person in your practice who would benefit from this service, please follow the referral instructions below.  The referral will go to Kids Inspire who will triage the referrals and allocate to the most appropriate organisation in the partnership.  Or if you are unsure if they will cover the issue you have seen, please call them on the number below discuss with them the appropriateness of the referral. 

Please note that you should still refer to EWMHS if you think the child or young person requires support from the highly specialist service already in place.

How to refer: 

1. Complete the attached referral form and send to [email protected] (for those on S1 – we are exploring ways of embedding into Systm1, but for now the attached form requires to be completed)
2. If you can, please complete the equalities form attached and send to [email protected] (if you cannot, the service will complete this on the telephone with the child or young person)
3. Or call 01245 348 707 to discuss the referral directly