Category Archives: Community Services

Episode 39 – Autism in Females and Those Assigned Female at Birth

October 25, 2022Access to services, Autism, CAMHS, Community Services, School Support, SEND, Special educational needsMarianne Bahadur

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Co-hosts Marianne and Kim are joined by three young people, Maddie, Sam and Zoe, with lived experience of autism to discuss the misconceptions of autism in females and those assigned female at birth, experiences at school and tips on how to better support people with autism. They are also joined by Tyrone and Freya from the Mental Health Schools Team who work with young people in schools.

Abbreviations used throughout
ASC: Autism Spectrum Condition
ASD: Autism Spectrum Disorder (Old Term)
MHST: Mental Health Schools Team
EHCP: Education, Health and Care Plan.
TA: Teaching Assistants

Immie Swain: How to spot signs of Autism in pupils https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8hrFwfhwNw

The Times Educational Supplement: ‘Lack of teacher training ‘hitting autistic pupils’ education’
https://www.tes.com/magazine/news/general/lack-teacher-training-hitting-autistic-pupils-education

[00:00:22] Introductions
[00:06:06] Misconceptions of Autism in Females
[00:11:19] Masking
[00:14:43] The Effects of Age of Diagnosis
[00:18:07] Autism Diagnosis and School Support
[00:23:30] Strategies for coping with Autism
[00:30:40] Sensory Overloads
[00:35:00] Bullying
[00:40:18] Special Interests
[00:43:04] Outro

Episode 30 – Digital diagnosis and neurodiversity

August 25, 2021Access to services, CAMHS, Community ServicesASC, CAMHS, ELFT, Luton and Bedford, neurodiversityMark Taylor

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Professionals, parents and young people across Bedfordshire and Luton have joined forces to utilise their expertise and collaborate in the development of a co-produced ‘Diagnosis Support Pack’ – a one stop place for information, support, guidance in multi media format in the lead up to, or following a diagnosis of a neurodiversity. In this podcast we discuss how, why and what the diagnosis support pack is all about and the journey that went in to its creation.

The Diagnosis Support Pack can be found here: https://www.cambscommunityservices.nhs.uk/beds-luton-community-paediatrics/diagnosis-support-pack

Episode 26 – Bedford Borough summer of SEND

July 9, 2021Access to services, CAMHS, Community ServicesAccess, Bedford Borough, CAMHS, COVID, Education, ELFT, local offer, Lockdown, Luton and Bedford, SENDMark Taylor

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In this episode, Niki talks with Bedford Borough Parent Carer Forum, Chief Education Officer Ben Pearson, Councillor James Valentine and our Local Offer Officer about the Summer of SEND. After a really challenging 16 months for families and young people, Bedford Borough have organised a fantastic and engaging summer of events and activities. SEND is everyone’s responsibility so listen in to see how you can GET INVOLVED.

Here’s the link to the Summer of SEND page on the Local Offer website:

https://localoffer.bedford.gov.uk/kb5/bedford/directory/site.page?id=Iuldx0e38aA

Twitter handles:

Bedford Local Offer – News and events for children and young people with SEND in Bedford Borough and their families. RT does not mean endorsement. Replies during office hours.- @bedfordlocalof1

BBPCF – An independent forum for parent carers of children & young people with disabilities or SEN to participate in developing and influencing local services. @BedsBoroughPCF

James Valentine – Labour Councillor for Kempston West, Lead Member for Education & Children’s Services, Bedford Borough Council – @JamesEValentine

Episode 25 – The effects of lockdown on mental health. A discussion with Dr Uttom Chowdhury

June 28, 2021Access to services, CAMHS, Community ServicesCAMHS, COVID, Luton and Bedford, Service user, Social media, Tic disorder, Tics, TourettesMark Taylor

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The second in a three-part series discussing the effects of COVID 19 and lockdown restrictions on the wellbeing of young people. Aisling and Ava met Doctor Uttom Chowdhury, an expert consultant child and adolescent psychiatric who specialises in neurodevelopmental disorders and works at CAMHS. We discuss how the pandemic has affected people’s wellbeing with a particular focus on tics and Tourette’s and Uttom shares his words of wisdom and support for families.

Episode 24 – The effects of lockdown on mental health. A discussion with Professor Tamsin Ford.

June 15, 2021Access to services, CAMHS, Community ServicesAccess, CAMHS, COVID, ELFT, Luton and Bedford, Service user, Social media, Specialist treatment, support servicesMark Taylor

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The first in a three-part series discussing the effects of COVID 19 and lockdown restrictions on the wellbeing of young people. As lockdown restrictions began to ease, hosts Aisling and Ava were joined by Professor Tamsin Ford, professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of Cambridge and an internationally renowned child psychiatric epidemiologist. Listen to find out what all that means, and hear us discuss the data around how the wellbeing of young people has been affected by the pandemic and the support available to young people.

Episode 22 – How we made our mental health film ‘Not Alone’..

March 18, 2021CAMHS, Community Services, UncategorizedCAMHS, ELFT, IntoFilm, Luton and Bedford, Service userMark Taylor

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In this episode, we talk about how some of our service users had the opportunity to work with IntoFilm, an organisation who ‘put film at the heart of the educational and personal development of children and young people.’

Over the course of 7 weeks, we attended film making workshops that taught us what is involved in film making, how to develop characters, write scripts and plan our camera shots to produce a film together about mental health. Not Alone follows 3 young people’s different mental health struggles, united by the fact they are not going through them alone. From exam stress, to anxiety, and fear of isolation: the young people all experience varied personal struggles and have different ways of coping. Through exploring these difficult feelings, they realise that they are not alone in these experiences. This film was made as part of the Into Film Moving Minds 2 Filmmaking Project. Young people aged between 11 and 19 were given the opportunity to work with professional filmmakers to devise and create their own short film.

Watch the film here: https://vimeo.com/506015431
Find out more about IntoFilm here: https://www.intofilm.org/

Episode 21 – The benefits of exercise on mental health

March 9, 2021Access to services, CAMHS, Community ServicesBedford Borough, CAMHS, COVID, ELFT, Luton and Bedford, Service userMark Taylor

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In this episode, Aisling is joined by professionals and young people to discuss the mental health benefits of physical exercise. We discuss the pressure to exercise in lockdown, some of the barriers to exercise we have encountered the past year and the pros and cons of the options that are available to us online.

Today’s episode is hosted by:

Aisling Callaghan – User participation lead for Luton CAMHS

We are joined by:

Jade Horsley who is the Satellite Club Link Officer for Team Beds & Luton

Rob Lindsay, Sports Development Officer for Bedford Borough Council

Racheall Monton, yoga instructor

Claire Rourke- Clinical Trial Manager, Ready Trial, University of Hertfordshire,

Molly- CAMHS service user,

Sam- CAMHS service user.

Links to the organisations mentioned in this episode..

https://readytrial.co.uk/ – Research study of Physical Activity in Young People

https://bedfordsportlive.crd.co – Bedford Sport Live – Activity sessions at home.

https://camhsspace.crd.co – CAMHS Space – Delivered by Bedford Borough Council in partnership with East London Foundation Trust CAMHS team and supported by Team Beds & Luton

https://www.teambedsandluton.co.uk/what-are-satellite-clubs Satelite Clubs – Team Beds & Luton-Satellite Clubs are physical activity projects which provide inactive young people between 14-19yrs new opportunities to be active in a fun and social environment, helping to create positive experiences and promote active lifestyles.

Episode 18 – BAME and Access to Mental Health Services (part 3)

December 11, 2020CAMHS, Community Services, Cultural Diversity, StigmaCAMHS, ELFT, StigmaMark Taylor

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Welcome to part 3..!

Cultural diversity and access to services is an issue that is high on the agenda for CAMHS and there is no better way of understanding the needs of the BAME community than hearing directly from the young people that have accessed the service. Today, we are privileged to have four of our ex service users talk about judgement, understanding and how important it is for clinicians to be curious and open to challenging their own beliefs. We also are very happy to welcome Helen Anderson, a CAMHS Clinician based at the Bedford Clinic. Helen has joined the discussion today to further her understanding of the challenges and difficulties that our young service users experience and to discuss the changes that can be made to make the CAMHS service more inclusive and accessible to all.

Episode 16 – BAME and Access to Mental Health Services

October 5, 2020Access to services, CAMHS, Community Services, Cultural Diversity, StigmaAccess, CAMHS, Culture, ELFT, Service userMark Taylor

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So come and take a listen..

Episode 13 – Lockdown, Mental Health and Social Media

June 22, 2020CAMHS, Community Services, UncategorizedCAMHS, COVID, ELFT, Luton and Bedford, Service user, Social mediaMark Taylor

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In today’s episode, we’re continuing the conversation about mental health, lockdown and how to manage during this time.. There’s lots of information in the media about what we should and shouldn’t do.. we see statistics.. we’re given direction and advice.. sometimes it sounds clear to us, and sometimes it doesn’t… we see advice change.. sometimes on a daily basis and this can leave us feeling worried, scared or just plain confused.. but on a more positive note, we’re also hearing about new and inventive ways of living life.. people are coming up with ideas that we maybe wouldn’t have thought of before…so it’s true to say that there’s a mix of experiences that people are having about lockdown.

But there’s one aspect of lockdown that we’ve all had to do… We’ve all had to socially isolate and keep to social distancing… which means limited access to friends and family, and our normal ways of socialising are currently off the agenda.. As a result of this, we’ve seen an increased use of social media. Now, there are lots of us that would never have entertained the idea of talking on screen.. but suddenly we’ve all got to grips with video calling, texting and even learning new dances on TacTic (name changed for copyright purposes..!)

and no, the last bit doesn’t apply to me.

But for some of us, our usual ways of managing health, and in particular, mental health may have become difficult to access.. such as taking exercise, going out and meeting people.. and getting access to fresh air. For those of us experiencing this.., daily life can be difficult… and many of us have increased our use of social media to support our wellbeing. In today’s episode, we’re going to explore how to manage mental health within the current climate…and give tips on how to make social media support our wellbeing as opposed to making it worse.

Today we have Nikki Scott, who is the user participation lead for Luton and Bedford CAMHS and is also a co-host on CAMHS Talk. I’d also like to welcome Lawrence Chung who is on the NHS graduate programme and is working an Operational Lead for Bedford CAMHS.Also welcome to our service users, Jay and Gracie