Experiences of working in CAMHS

Section A: Literature Review

The literature review explored “What are the experiences of staff working clinically within CAMHS?” A narrative overview method was used, which allows for a narrative synthesis of published information. Five quantitative and five qualitative papers were included. The quantitative literature found that staff in CAMHS are regularly burnt out, with some experiences of secondary traumatic stress. The qualitative literature revealed three overarching themes contributing to staff well-being and job satisfaction: organisational issues, personal experiences and support. To date, no research has explored the experiences of qualified psychologists within CAMHS, which would benefit from exploration.

Section B: Empirical Paper

This project explored the experiences of clinical psychologists working in CAMHS, leaving CAMHS and working privately with children and families. A qualitative design, with semi-structured interviews of ten participants was employed, which was analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Results are represented within five experiential themes: a timeline of CAMHS, not feeling able to do the job, friends and foes, impact of CAMHS on self and family, guilt vs relief at leaving, and 14 sub-themes. It would be beneficial for the experiences of clinical psychologists to be considered in relation to current practice with the view of improving staff experiences.