Services for Ageing and Mental Health (SAMH) Camden Community Mental Health Team
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We are a specialist team, which has staff with a range of skills to support older people. The team includes:
- Psychiatrists
- Mental Health Nurses
- Social Workers
- Psychologists
- An Occupational Therapist
- A support Worker and Team administrators
We will work with you to help you manage your mental health and physical health needs. We will also help and support your carers if appropriate. We do this by offering a number of evidence-based treatments, including:
- Talking therapies from the team psychologists.
- Medication management
- Setting up home care. There may be a cost to you for this based on a financial assessment.
- Home visits to monitor how you are progressing.
- Helping you to do day to day tasks.
- Introducing you to community services such as the Camden Recovery Service for Older People or one of the Dementia Day Services. These may incur a cost to you and we will need to complete a financial assessment with you.
- Giving you information about your illness to help you and your family or carers understand it better.
- Help with your social and housing needs and advice on benefits.
- Borough(s): Camden
- Email: samhcamdenCMHT@candi.nhs.uk
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Address:
The Peckwater Centre, 1st Floor, 6 Peckwater Street, London, NW5 2TX
- Phone number: Reception: 020 3317 6541, CMHT duty worker 020 3317 6577
- Service hours: 9:00am to 5:00pm, Monday to Friday
How to access this service
Referrals to the SAMH Camden CMHT come from a number of sources but mostly from GP’s. We also accept referrals from all teams within the Trust. Other sources include the police, housing and adult social services.
You can also self-refer, or your family or carer can make a referral. However, we will have to speak with your GP prior to seeing you in order to obtain a history of both your physical and mental health concerns.
Referrals can be made on line to our secure team email address at samhcamdenCMHT@candi.nhs.uk They can also be made by letter or over the phone to the duty worker.
Who is this service for?
We offer assessment, treatment and support to older people living in the borough of Camden with mental health problems, and, if they so choose, we also support their families and carers. We help people experiencing depression, anxiety, Dementia, psychosis and other serious mental health concerns.
- We support people of any age with a primary diagnosis of dementia.
- We support people with a mental disorder and physical illness or frailty which contribute (s) to, or complicate (s) the management of their mental illness. This may include people under 65.
- We support people with psychological or social difficulties related to the ageing process, or end of life issues, or who feel their needs may be best met by a service for older people. This would normally include people over the age of 70
What to expect
Your first contact with us will normally be because your GP has referred you to mental health services for an assessment because he or she thinks that you would benefit from the care and treatment that our service is able to provide.
We will contact you by telephone or letter to offer you an appointment. This might be in your home or at the Peckwater Centre where our office is based. You can bring a member of your family, a carer or a friend to the appointment if you want for support.
If you need ongoing support from the CMHT then you may be allocated a care coordinator. This person will be your main point of contact but others from the team may meet you too. Your care coordinator will be responsible for organising your care.
Service strengths
- We aim to see people within 28 days of the referral but we can see people more urgently if the referrer requests this. ·
- We undertake our own specialist assessments.
- We have direct access to the Home Treatment Team who can support you intensively for a period of time if you are in a crisis.
- We do not have a waiting list.
Service manager(s)
Jessica Danson
