Making sure mental health treatment is there for children and young people, when they need it, as soon as they need it, so that they can get on with living their lives to their fullest potential.
Want to find out more about who we are and what we do? We've got the answers to all your frequently-asked questions right here. Click on the question to find the answer.
Y:AMHS is made up of our four trustees - Rachael, Imogen, Shereen and Helena. We launched the charity in May 2021. We also have some regular volunteers who have helped us out with fundraising events and we must also make mention of our fantastic graphic designer, Liz Ogden, who has given her time and talent for free.
Y:AMHS was launched in May 2021, during Mental Health Awareness Week, in response to the huge waiting lists facing children and young people for mental health treatment in our area. Our trustees had experienced this first hand and understood the devastating effects of having to wait for therapy or other interventions and could see that it would take quite some time before the situation improved. Together, they created Y:AMHS and continue running the charity, which they hope will make a difference in the lives of young people and their families in and around Crawley.
Y:AMHS raises money to fund private therapy and interventions for children and young people with mental ill health - this may be traditional counselling, CBT, equine therapy, music therapy or whatever intervention is most suited to the individual and the difficulties they are facing. We also run parent support sessions for parents and carers to be able to take time out and unwind with others in a similar situation and offer signposting to other agencies that may be able to help. Additionally, we provide a support group for young people where they can feel comfortable to be with others going through similar difficulties in a relaxing space. See our 'Get Help' pages for more information.
Our funding rounds open 4 times a year and we advertise this on social media and through our newsletters and other communications with local services and agencies. Families can download the application form from our website HERE. The form needs to be completed with detail around the difficulties being faced and the impact of those difficulties. Children and young people do not need to have received a diagnosis. The form must be signed by a GP or SENCO or other professional working with the family, who can confirm that they are aware of the diffculties and feel that the support being applied for will be beneficial. Families can specify a provider or Y:AMHS can find a suitable therapist. All applications must be made by the published deadline, when Y:AMHS will review them against the amount of funding available and inform families of whether they have been successful. We will also provide details of a provider if we have been asked to find one.
Y:AMHS will be clear about the number of sessions that can be funded when informing families of the outcome of their application. We also communicate this information to the provider, who will then invoice Y:AMHS directly. Y:AMHS will not give money directly to families at any point.
At Y:AMHS, we aim to provide funding for a level of treatment which will significantly and adequately impact the lives of children and young people and, therefore, the number of sessions we are able to fund tends to be higher than most local providers. However, we fund treatment on a case-by-case basis, and although we do have a maximum threshold, we will only inform families of this if the level of support they are applying for exceeds this. We hope that in this way, we can offer the maximum amount of support to the maximum number of families possible.
Y:AMHS provide funding to families in Crawley and the areas directly surrounding it out to Horsham on one end and East Grinstead on the other - villages such as Handcross, Turners Hill and Crawley Down would be covered - if you're not sure if we cover your area, please get in touch.
Our Parent Support sessions and Chill Zone group for young people are open to anyone in the wider area and we would welcome people from further afield to come along to these sessions.
Unfortunately, if you live outside of the areas that we cover, we will be unable to offer funding for mental health treatment for your child. However, we will be able to signpost you to other services that may be able to help and will try and do all we can to support you in accessing suitable support. If you are unsure if we cover your area, please email us at gethelp@yamhs.co.uk.
We recognise that many children outside of the 10-18 age range will also experience mental health difficulties. In order to ensure that we can support as many families as possible and to meet the demand, we have restricted our funding to this age range. We will continue to monitor how our funding is allocated and if we are able, will seek to extend the age range we support. However, at the current time, we would be unable to fund treatment for children and young people outside of this. If you would like to discuss an individual child with us, please do get in touch and we will seek to do all we can to support.
If you've got a question we haven't answered, you can get in touch with us here, and we'll aim to respond as soon as we can.
Here are some of the things young people have told us about the impact of our support on their lives.
If you'd like more information around how to support or where to get help, please contact us.
