Children and Young People's Mental Health Service

We are a specialist service, which means that referrals need to be made by someone who has met you and thinks that we might be able to help. That person might be your GP, health visitor, school health advisor, social worker or a paediatrician (a specialist children's doctor).

Once we receive your referral, we get in touch with you as soon as possible to let you know whether we think we can help and to offer you an appointment with our team.

If you think you would benefit from support , make an appointment to see your GP, who will be able to make a referral to our service for you if they think we could help.

Depending on your age, you would usually bring your parents or carers with you when you first come to see us, but sometimes we might need to see you alone. Sometimes we might need to see your parents alone too so don't be worried if this happens. It's important that everyone feels comfortable and able to talk openly about any worries they have. 

All appointments are held in private rooms. Your first appointment usually takes about 45 to 60 minutes. If you're offered more appointments, they shouldn't be longer than your first appointment and we will do our best to agree a date and time that works for you.

When you've had your first appointment, we may need more information to help us decide what we can do to support you. This may mean speaking to teachers at school or other people who are known to you. We would always discuss this with you first. 

When we have all the information we need, we will talk to you about it and decide together whether we can help. If we decide this is the best service to help you, we will work together on a plan, which you will own and be given a copy of.

The sessions are for children and young people who use mental health services at Mersey Care.

Monthly sessions are part of care and treatment and completely free.

We use animal sessions to help young people relax, socialise, communicate, and learn social skills that can help you recover or help you to cope with ongoing mental health symptoms. It’s a very relaxing and enjoyable session which can have a positive effect on your wellbeing and resilience.

The sessions are put together by the Home Safari Animal Assisted Therapy Service in partnership with Mersey Care and have already had a significant impact on the patients, including:

• One young person struggling with social anxiety has started to engage well after attending only three of the animal therapy sessions
• Another also benefitted from the sessions with their parent saying: “My child’s tics reduced, almost stopped during the session"
• A third child with multiple complex needs is now able to tolerate being around a large group of people, including other children, which is something they have never been able to do previously after just a few sessions with the animals.

One parent told us this is the happiest day of their week.

You can drop in, there is no need to book, and each group has around 12 to 15 people. You will be able to interact with animals, which may involve holding, petting and grooming. There is a wide range of animals from rabbits, guinea pigs, chinchillas and other critters, there is an animal for everyone, and you’re under no pressure to take part.

At the sessions we might also ask you some questions about how we can improve our services. The group has a theme each month that we talk about.

Contact us for details 01925 579 405 (9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday).