CAMHS Waiting List: What to Do While You Wait

Your child was referred to CAMHS six months ago. You haven't heard anything. You ring the number and are told they are very busy and will be in touch. Your child is still struggling in school, at home, and you have no idea what to do while the system leaves you in limbo.

This is not an unusual situation — it is the experience of hundreds of thousands of families across the UK. CAMHS waiting lists routinely exceed 18 months nationally. In some areas, families are waiting three or four years. Here is what you can do in the meantime.

Step 1: Check the Referral Was Received

It sounds basic, but referrals do get lost. Ring your local CAMHS service and confirm:

• The referral was received
• The referral was triaged (accepted for the waiting list rather than rejected)
• Your child is on the correct waiting list for the right type of assessment
• Whether you are on a 'routine' or 'urgent' waiting list

If the referral was rejected without you being told, go back to your GP immediately and ask them to resubmit. Ask specifically whether the GP referral letter adequately described the severity and functional impact of your child's difficulties. Weak referral letters result in lower-priority triage decisions.

Step 2: Request a School Referral to CAMHS

Schools can refer directly to CAMHS in most areas of England. A school referral can sometimes be processed faster than a GP referral because it arrives with corroborating educational evidence already attached. If the school has documented your child's difficulties through their SEN Support process, a CAMHS referral from the school adds a second professional voice to the clinical picture.

Ask the school's SENCO or pastoral lead whether they will submit a school-initiated referral alongside the existing GP referral. Having two referral sources can accelerate triage.

Step 3: Push for an Educational Assessment in Parallel

The single most important thing parents on long CAMHS waiting lists can do is pursue the educational assessment pathway simultaneously. These two tracks are separate. You do not need a clinical diagnosis to access an EHCP.

The SEND Code of Practice is explicit: SEN is defined by the impact of a child's difficulties on their learning, not by the presence of a medical diagnosis. If your child's anxiety, ADHD traits, autism traits, or emotional dysregulation are affecting their ability to learn and the school's current provision is not addressing this, you can request a statutory EHC Needs Assessment from the local authority right now.

Write to the Director of Children's Services. Explain the educational impact. Attach the GP CAMHS referral letter as corroborating evidence that clinical concerns exist. The LA has 6 weeks to decide whether to assess and 20 weeks total to complete the process.

In England, 154,489 requests for EHC Needs Assessments were made in 2024 — and many of those children did not have a clinical diagnosis at the point of request.

Step 4: Know When to Escalate to Crisis

If your child's mental health deteriorates significantly while on the CAMHS waiting list — if they express thoughts of self-harm or suicide, or their functioning collapses — this changes the picture entirely.

Contact CAMHS directly and report the change in clinical presentation. Use the words "significant deterioration" and describe specific, concrete changes in behaviour. Ask whether the urgency classification of your referral can be reviewed.

If there is immediate risk, take your child to A&E or call 999. A&E can refer to CAMHS crisis teams who operate outside standard waiting list processes.

Contact your GP the same day and ask them to submit an urgent re-referral or escalation letter to CAMHS describing the deterioration.

Document every contact with CAMHS and every contact with the GP, including dates, who you spoke to, and what they said.

While CAMHS waiting lists are genuinely out of parents' control, the educational support pathway is not. The UK Assessment & Evaluation Guide explains how to run the educational and clinical pathways simultaneously, including template letters for requesting school support and local authority assessment while CAMHS waits drag on.

Step 5: Private Options

If your financial situation allows, private CAMHS assessment exists and can significantly accelerate diagnosis and treatment. Costs for a private ADHD or autism assessment from a clinical psychologist or child psychiatrist typically range from £600 to £1,200 depending on the provider and the comprehensiveness of the assessment.

In England, parents also have the Right to Choose — the right under NHS regulations to request that an NHS-funded CAMHS assessment is conducted by an alternative provider with shorter waiting times. Go back to your GP and ask whether this applies to your child's referral.

For mental health support while waiting (rather than diagnostic assessment), some children's mental health charities provide free or low-cost therapeutic support. Young Minds, Place2Be, and Kooth offer digital mental health support. These are not clinical interventions, but they may reduce the acute pressure on your child while waiting.

Step 6: What the School Should Be Doing Right Now

Your child's school cannot simply do nothing because you're waiting for CAMHS. If the school is aware that the child has been referred and is struggling, the school has existing obligations:

• The pastoral team or school counsellor should have contact with the child
• The SENCO should be running an Assess-Plan-Do-Review SEN Support cycle if learning is affected
• The school should have a written record of what they are doing to support the child

If the school says "we're waiting for the CAMHS assessment to see what they say," push back. The school does not need a clinical diagnosis to put a SEN Support Plan in place or to provide reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010.

Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland

In Wales, if your child is on a CAMHS waiting list and the school is not providing adequate support in the interim, contact SNAP Cymru. They can intervene and push the school to meet its duties under the ALNET Act 2018 without waiting for clinical results.

In Scotland, Enquire Scotland provides advice on accessing ASN support from schools while clinical assessments are pending. The broad definition of Additional Support Needs in Scotland means that a child's difficulties can be formally acknowledged and planned for without a diagnostic label.

In Northern Ireland, the Education Authority can begin the statutory assessment process while CAMHS assessment is ongoing. SENAC can advise on how to progress this.

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