Beyond the Waiting List: Finding the Right Support for Your Child’s Anxiety or Low Mood
When a child is struggling, as a parent your world stops. You have probably spent hours searching for a way out of the worry, but instead, you find a wall of acronyms, waiting lists, resistance and conflicting advice.
In the spirit of Omotenashi, a Japanese concept of meeting needs before you know what your needs are, this blog is designed to anticipate your questions as a parent. We aren’t here to tell you which door to knock on; we are here to show you what is behind each door so you can lead your child to the right place.
The Landscape of Support for Your Child
1. NHS: CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services)
This is the specialist NHS service for children and young people in crisis. Your GP can make the referral.
• What it is: A multi-disciplinary team (psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers) focused on clinical safety and medical intervention.
• The Hidden Detail: CAMHS is often reserved for moderate to severe clinical needs. Because of high demand, children with mild to moderate anxiety or low mood may not meet their threshold for support.
• When to access it: If your child is in a safety crisis, requires a clinical diagnosis, or needs medication to manage severe depression or eating disorders.
2. School-Based Support & Charities (e.g., Place2Be)
Many schools have Emotional Literacy programs or counsellors available through charities or school based counsellors.
• What it is: Gentle, accessible Talking Therapy or play therapy within the school environment.
• The Hidden Detail: This is excellent for early intervention. However, because it is often tied to the school term and limited to 6–10 sessions, it can sometimes feel like a “plaster” on a deeper wound. Children may feel unable to access the service if they feel the weight of stigma on seeking support at school.
• When to access it: When your child is struggling specifically with school related stress, friendship issues, or needs a safe place to talk outside the home.
3. Social Prescribing for Children & Youth
Youth Social Prescribing exists in some areas and can be accessed via your GP and provides referrals to relevant support or community based support.
• What it is: Linking young people to non-clinical activities like youth clubs, sports, or creative arts to build confidence.
• The Hidden Detail: It’s about belonging. If your child’s struggle is rooted in loneliness or lack of purpose, doing something with others is often more powerful than talking about it. Groups will be identified based on their individual circumstances, e.g. grief groups, young carers, hobbies, sport, etc.
• When to access it: When your child is withdrawn or isolated and needs a sense of community to rebuild their spark.
4. Youth Coaching (e.g., Champs Academy)
• What it is: Performance and resilience coaching. It is very proactive, focusing on confidence, public speaking, and powering up for exams or sports.
• The Hidden Detail: Coaching assumes the child is mentally fit but lacks skills. It doesn’t usually look at the emotional why, it focuses on the how of the future.
• When to access it: When your child is doing well but lacks confidence or grit in high-pressure situations or when they hit a plateau and need someone to guide them through.
5. EmotionMind Dynamic (EMD): The Empowerment Experience
EMD was born from a mother’s lived experience of navigating these exact systems.
• What it is: A non-clinical 6 step method that treats the child as a master of their own mind. We don’t fix behaviours; we give the child the self-knowledge to understand their own internal mechanic, tools to self manage and empty their emotional vessel.
• The Hidden Detail: While others look at managing anxiety (coping skills), EMD looks at the logic of the anxiety. We teach children how to process and release emotions so the behaviours (the anger, anxiety, the withdrawal, the panic) naturally dissolve as they gain mastery.
• When to access it: When you are caught in the gap your child isn’t in a medical crisis (CAMHS), but talking isn’t enough (Counselling), and they are too emotionally overwhelmed for traditional coaching.
A Parent’s Decision Guide
If your child needs… The Best Path is…
Medical safety, diagnosis, or medication CAMHS (NHS)
A safe space to talk at school Counsellor / Place2Be
To feel part of a group again Youth Social Prescribing
Confidence for a specific goal Youth Coaching
To master their mind and end the cycle EmotionMind Dynamic