2. Care Planning
Using Care Plans helps you and the family be clear about what you are all aiming at.
We find these things help:
- Use plain English
- Make realistic goals with the family - that are measurable so you all know when you have achieved them
- Review progress regularly - have a system in place to ensure this happens and monitor it
- Involve the network early
- Always focus on ending - be clear why you are offering another appointment. Could someone else do it (e.g. shared care in ADHD); could you do it another way (an interim review or booster with the school nurse)?
This item is probably the hardest thing to do well in CAMHS. Really clear plans with strong expectations produce results and it is so, so easy to get vague without realising it. You may well have started with a clear plan but things drift and without explicit review with the family and perhaps in the team you may soon feel stuck or working at cross purposes.