Discovery Day

CAMHS service within Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust 4 July 2015

Report

Background

The CAMHS Discovery Day took place on Saturday 4 July 2015 at Little Woodhouse Hall with a group of young people who access inpatient and outpatient CAMHS. The day was facilitated by the mHabitat team along with two developers and with support from CAMHS practitioners. The purpose of the day was to answer the following question:

What web-based information do young people using Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services

(CAMHS) in Leeds want about the service and how can we provide it in the most useful and

appealing way possible?

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People like me

We created personas to represent people who might access the CAMHS service and we thought about how they might answer the question we had set for the day.

Kerry Age 14 Live in a foster home in Guiseley Attends Guiseley High Schools Has lots of friends Favourite subject is art Likes play the flute and plays in an orchestra Worried about school and exams Doesn’t like talking to other people about her worries and problems

Sophie Age 10 Lives in East Leeds Her parents are separated and she has two brothers Has not phone but uses her parent’s tablet She is in Year 5, she is ‘girly’ and likes makeup and dancing She is worried about her self­image, she is being bullied and thinks she’s not that ‘bright’ Her parents think it’s a phase.

John Age 16 Lives in Wakefield with is parents Is an only child Is about to start studying for A­Levels in PE, Business Studies, Drama, and English Literature Supports Manchester United Likes reading and listening to classical music Has friends but no good friends (he feels his friends are false) and no best friend He has an old phone with access to the internet

Max Age 10 Lives in Manchester He is Year 6 at primary school Lives with his parents and older sister Likes playing Minecraft, XBox and board games. He has friends at schools He likes climbing and swimming His sister is ill and he’s noticed something is wrong (even though his parents haven’t) and he wants to know what he can

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He likes Facebook and enjoys playing on his XBox He searches for help on the internet because he’s stressed at school, got pushy parents and feels socially awkward. He feels frustrated because he can’t find the right website easily and when he does find it it isn’t very user friendly. He wants signposting for services, tips for dealing with stress, live chat to ask questions, audio and video stories, games and quizzes as well as advice on relaxation

do to help. He doesn’t want to upset his sister by telling his parents He is typing in ‘why is my sister crying?’ but he doesn’t understand the information he is coming across. He’s worried he might find things that aren’t good for him. Ideally he would like a support line and someone to talk to. He’d like lots of pictures and diagrams to explain things. He wants video content and information that is suitable for his age.

A user journey through CAMHS

We created a journey into CAMHS from the GP and thought carefully about the sort of information our personas would want on the CAMHS website, how it should be presented, and what should be avoided. We separated out the journey and worked out what would be useful at each point. We spent most of our time looking at the early journey of someone new to CAMHS.

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GP visit A journey into CAMHS often begins with a visit to the GP after which a referral is made to CAMHS. Young people often leave the appointment not understanding what service they have been referred to or how to find out more. Young people want a small card with the CAMHS website on that they and use. The card should be appropriate for different ages. Visiting the CAMHS website before a first appointment While a young person is waiting for an appointment they want to find out more about CAMHS on the website. They want the following features:

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A description of CAMHS An animation mapping a typical journey through CAMHS Information about possible outcomes Photos of staff with information about their training as well as likes and dislikes Photos of CAMHS buildings and front doors Short films showing walk­throughs of CAMHS buildings (some narrated by young people and others by professionals) Peer stories ­ ‘this is what I wish I’d known when I first came to CAMHS’ Links to useful information, websites, games and apps

After first appointment and waiting for treatment to begin After a young person has had their first appointment to be assessed, and while they are waiting for their first treatment appointment, they would like:

Book recommendations Self­help information Resources, links and recommended apps Instant chat to ask questions and have them answered by a professional

What is CAMHS? using the right words

We thought carefully about the right words to describe CAMHS so it can be easily understood by a young person. We recognised that ‘CAMHS’ is a confusing acronym but understood it can’t be changed. Instead we thought about how to explain it to our personas. Here are some of the things young people wrote:

It is an NHS help area when you struggling with any issues or need support when going through mental health

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A service provided by the NHS to support young people with mental health problems

An NHS service providing information and care for under 18s with mental health issues

A Leeds based service that offers help and advice to young people with mental health issues

A mental health service for people of any age (children, teens and adults) with mental health issues/problems or supporting somebody with a mental health problem. It is run by the NHS.

A service that provides help and support for people with mental health problems. CAMHS also helps parents understand

more about their child’s problem so they can know how to deal with their child’s problem

CAMHS does a lot of things. CAMHS is for young people. Children and families that seriously affected by difficulties no­one else can help with, even though they have tried. CAMHS helps work out what’s happening and why. CAMHS

workers help with solutions; they work together and have lots of experience of being creative

Design - what we like

Young people said they like a website design that is :

Colourful Interactive Doodles Illustrations

Friendly fonts Fun Simple navigation (so we can find our way around the site)

Young people don’t like NHS blue and corporate colours that make a website look too official.

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Words and tone - what we like

Young people said they like:

Everyday words (the words I use) Brief sentences Explanation of technical words (such as mindfulness)

Young people don’t like medical or diagnostic words.

Content - what we like

Young people told us they want their own web pages. They like:

Tips on how to cope Stories from other young people Opportunity to give feedback about the site and services Video content Audio content PDFs we can download and read in private

Useful resources and links to where you can download them or buy them Information about services ­ with an explanation of what they are and offer Live chat and/or Skype

Links - what we like

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Young people want links to trusted and useful resources such as the MindMate website. Young people don’t always know how to spell ‘CAMHS’ so we need to ensure we optimise the website so it can be found through a variety of search terms.

In summary In summary, the Discovery Day enabled a group of young people accessing CAMHS, practitioners and people with website and developer expertise, to imagine a friendly, accessible and useful website. Young people would like to be involved in the development of content for the new website. They are keen to have content on the website that is produced by both young people and professionals.

Quick wins Below are some quick wins for development of the website at limited cost: Business cards ­ producing a series of business card like handouts (age appropriate) that GPs can give to patients once they’ve made a referral will be relatively quick and inexpensive to produce. These can signpost the website and any specific areas/sections to look at. CAMHS typical journey film ­ a one minute animation with a static document version to put on the website. Photos of staff and CAMHS buildings/front doors ­ whilst virtual tours and consistent photography would be ideal, relevant sections and photographs could be produced in­house using smart­phones; likewise with the short films showing walk­throughs of the facilities. Content ­ a clear, straightforward hierarchy and website navigation is crucial for people to find information easily with short introductory paragraphs followed by more detailed information that is easy to digest with minimum amounts of text. Whilst the site

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structure and creative style will be limited by the overarching framework of the rest of the website, there is still opportunity to look at utilising illustrations for each of the top­level sections and home page and developing appropriate content.

Victoria Betton

July 2015

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