From 1 July 2024, this service will be delivered by Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust (LSCft). The team can be contacted:

What do the ELCAS Specialist Community Psychiatric Teams offer?

The ELCAS specialist community psychiatric teams offer assessment, treatment, formulation and diagnosis for children and young people who are experiencing severe and complex mental health disorders.   We are multi-disciplinary teams, meaning that our staff come from different professional backgrounds which may include psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, social workers, occupational therapists and qualified and registered therapists.  We deliver evidence based interventions that are centred upon a child or young person’s goals and identified need.

Team members:

A Psychiatrist is a medically qualified doctor who specialises specifically in mental health disorders.  Psychiatrists can prescribe medication and often work within community mental health teams.

A Psychologist focuses on your thoughts, emotions and behaviours. They use cognitive behavioural and emotional techniques to help you manage your mental health difficulties.

Occupational Therapists will help children and young people overcome difficulties caused by mental or physical illness or disability. 

Mental Health Practitioners carry out assessment and a range of interventions, drawing on their professionals backgrounds and specific training, therefore remove perform psychological screening, basic assessment and psychological interventions.

Therapeutic interventions that may be offered by our service Include:
  • Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
  • Art Therapy
  • Systemic (or family) Therapy
  • Trauma focussed Therapy

Everyone open to our service is allocated a practitioner within the team who will be leading on their case and be the main point of contact.  All our practitioners have specialist training and skills to work with young people who have complex mental health difficulties.  Each young person will have a personalised care plan that will be created with the young person and their parent/carer, at the very beginning of their care and treatment, and reviewed during the treatment period as required.

Accessing the Community Psychiatric Teams

To access our 0-18 Community Psychiatric Team, in the first instance please speak to your GP, social worker, or any other health professional, who will be the best placed to make the referral.  Your GP or other health professional will refer you if they think we can help you as they  often hold relevant clinical information about you and your family which will help us to determine whether we are the right service for you. 

There are some specialist services that are not provided by ELCAS but other teams and services:

  • Psychosis (aged 14yrs and over is provided by LSCFT)
  • ADHD diagnosis and treatment for under 12yrs is provided by Community Paediatrics at ELHT
  • ASD diagnosis is provided by Community Paediatrics at ELHT
  • Substance Misuse support is provided by ‘Young We are With You'
ELCAS Acceptance Criteria

Our acceptance criteria below shows the mental health problems that ELCAS can offer the relevant therapy and treatment for.  If you do not meet our acceptance criteria we will write to you letting you know the alternative options available to you.