Complex Mental Health Needs: When Services Come Together for Service Innovation

22 April 2026 2pm

Event type Service Innovation

EARLY BIRD FROM JUST £5!
Live stream via Zoom at 14:00 - 15:30 UK time.
Can't make it, don't worry, book now as delegates have exclusive access to recordings for 90 days after the event, together with slides. You must book before the event starts, there are no tickets after the event starts.

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Sad little child, boy, hugging his mother at home, isolated image, copy space. Family concept

Tags: Evidence-based, Intervention… Show all

Topics: Evidence-based, Intervention, Management, Mental health, Treatment
Populations: Adolescents, CAMHS services, Children and Young People, Clinicians, Other professionals, Researcher / Academic
Interventions: Psychotherapies
Publication Types: Events, In depth, In practice

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‘Complex Mental Health Needs: When Services Come Together for Service Innovation’ seeks to emphasise the importance of collaboration among agencies when standard practices fall short in meeting the needs of children and young people (CYP). It will showcase the collaborative efforts of various organisations in Portsmouth that support CYP and their families facing complex challenges. It is a webinar with opportunities to share reflections and experiences with the speakers and the panel.

Booking

Sign up at this link or on the Book Now button at the top of the screen, and complete the form that follows. You’ll then receive an email confirmation and a link to the webinar, plus we’ll send you a calendar reminder nearer the time. Delegates will have exclusive access to recordings for 90 days after the event, together with slides. Plus you will get a personalised CPD/CME certificate via email.

ACAMH Members MUST login to book onto the webinar in order to access this webinar and get a CPD/CME certificate

Non-members this is a great time to join ACAMH, take a look at what we have to offer, and make the saving on these sessions

EARLY BIRD £5 (until 02/03/26, then £10) for ACAMH Members (Print, Online, Concession) Join now and save

EARLY BIRD £10 (until 02/03/26, then £20) ACAMH Learn Account holders

EARLY BIRD £10 (until 16/02/26, then £20) Non Members

£5 ACAMH Undergraduate/Postgraduate Members

FREE LMIC Members

About the session

Agencies within health and social care systems are designed to support children, young people, and families who meet specific criteria or thresholds. Unfortunately, this structure can exclude some families from receiving the expertise or resources they need. As a result, families may find themselves caught between service thresholds. Comprehensive care plans that span multiple agencies and reflect a psycho-social understanding of needs are often hard to find. Additionally, services tend to collaborate primarily during crises affecting the family. Decisions made in crises frequently prioritise system concerns and can be overly restrictive, focusing mainly on immediate risks. This approach does not benefit the child, family, or professionals in the long run and fails to foster sustainable, positive change.

To address these issues, senior clinical and operational leaders from the local system committed to meeting monthly to facilitate professional discussions. The only requirement for participation in this forum was that “Business as Usual” approaches had been attempted, but the family was still not receiving adequate support. The leaders were dedicated to finding system solutions, including the flexibility of available resources and access to social care and mental health expertise, regardless of whether a family met service thresholds. This presentation will outline the process, themes, and outcomes of this 12-month trial, viewed from both health and social care perspectives.

Learning objectives

To gain knowledge to replicate this approach within other provider areas
To increase knowledge about the barriers and potential solutions for working with and into other agencies
To learn more about potential solutions to issues where “Business As Usual” has not been effective

Who should attend

This conference is suitable for anyone working with children and young people (CYP) presenting with complex mental health difficulties. It is appropriate for professionals from health, education and social care in all settings (i.e. primary, secondary, tertiary care). This is a great opportunity for delegates to network with different professionals working with children and young people across the region.

Programme

13:45 – 14:00 Webinar room open/Networking

14:00 – 14:10 Welcome and Introduction by the Chair

14:10 – 15:10 Child-centred problem solving across agencies – Speakers; Alison Wallis, Mr Adam Shepherd, and Ms Chantal Homan

15:10- 15:25 Q&A session

15:25 – 15:30 Reflections and Close

About the speakers

Alison Wallis

Alison has recently taken on a new role working with young people with complex lives. Before taking this post Alison was holding the interim position within community CAMHS as the Associate Clinical Director. This followed the joining of the four organisations to form HIOWFT. Prior to this she was the Clinical Director for Children and young people’s Services within Sussex Partnership with a portfolio that spanned children’s mental health services across Sussex and Hampshire. As well as holding these strategic posts, Alison has worked in Teams specialising in work with children in care and their networks as well as a multi-agency service that supported children and young people on the edge of care and or education across the Hampshire footprint. She continues to work clinically and holds a clinical case load within the Forensic CAMHS service across HIOW. Within this role she also offers consultation to professionals alongside training, and supervision.

Adam Shepherd

Senior Manager in Children’s Services – responsibility for MASH, CIN and CP work. I am a Qualified Social Worker of 29 years. I have worked in Residential Care, fieldwork services, part of a CAMHS multi-agency team (Unified Adolescent Team), specialised as the lead for Children with sexually harmful behaviour and worked briefly in Adult Learning Disability services.

More to follow from other speakers