Psychological Medicine

Phone:	9845 2005
Fax:	9845 2009
Email:	psychmed@chw.edu.au
Location:	Outpatients building, level 3

Mission

The Department of Psychological Medicine at the Children's Hospital Westmead:

• Seeks to provide excellent, evidence-based and culturally appropriate clinical care to children and young people with mental health problems or disorders; and their carers.
• Promotes the health and psychosocial well-being of all children through education, liaison and advocacy.
• Strengthens the quality of psychosocial care provided to children and young people through leadership in the training and supervision of health care workers.
• Conducts and disseminates research to promote service improvement, the well-being of children, young people and their families, and the advancement of knowledge.

Who We See

The Department of Psychological Medicine provides specialist mental health consultation, clinical and advocacy services for children and young people who are experiencing:

• Psychological or behavioural problems or disorders associated with medical illness or health concerns
• Psychological or behavioural problems or disorders associated with developmental or intellectual disability
• Psychological or behavioural problems or disorders associated with complex psychosocial circumstances or trauma
• Medical complications of psychiatric illnesses
• Serious mental illness requiring treatment in a combined paediatric and psychiatric setting.

Referrals

We are a tertiary referral health service, meaning that we primarily see children and young people (from 0-15 years of age) that are:

• Receiving emergency care at the Children's Hospital at Westmead Emergency Department
• Admitted to Hall Ward, the specialist mental health in-patient facility of the Children's Hospital at Westmead.
• Admitted to the medical wards of the Children's Hospital Westmead
• Receiving specialist outpatient care from another department within the Children's Hospital at Westmead.
• Referred by rural NSW child health specialists for review through the child and adolescent telemedicine psychiatry outreach service (CAPTOS).

To access our services, children and adolescents generally need a referral from a paediatrician associated with the hospital. We do not offer direct community services or accept referrals from general practitioners. In NSW most psychological services for children and adolescents are provided by local Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). Please contact your local community health centre (details in the NSW Health Services Directory) for further information.

The Department does however provide child and adolescent telemedicine psychiatry outreach services (CAPTOS) by site visits and telemedicine/video linkage to remote and rural NSW. These are accessed through the local Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS).

Services

Individual patient care is offered on both an inpatient and outpatient basis. Treatments offered include family therapy, individual psychological treatment and the prescription of psychotropic medication as appropriate. Families may be offered the opportunity to participate in group treatment programmes where appropriate.

Families of the child or adolescent will be expected to participate in the whole treatment process.

If you have an appointment with the department, then please bring your Medicare card and make sure you complete your registration form and any other questionnaires sent to you.

Clinical Teams

Staff in the clinical teams includes:

• Child and adolescent psychiatrists (Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatry, www.ranzcp.org)
• Clinical psychologists/ psychologists (Australian Psychological Society, www.psychology.org.au)
• Mental health nurses (Australian and New Zealand College of Mental Health Nurses, www.anzcmhn.org)
• Social workers (Australian Association of Social Workers, www.aasw.asn.au)
• Occupational therapists (Australian Association of Occupational Therapists, www.ausot.com.au)
• Paediatricians
• Pharmacist (The Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia, www.shpa.org.au)
• Health professionals completing training and advanced training in child and adolescent mental health, including Child psychiatry fellows, Psychiatry registrars, Paediatric registrars, Intern Clinical psychologists, Social work students, Art therapy students, and medical students.

Research

Please visit our Research page for more details.

School Link

Please visit our School Link Page www.schoollink.chw.edu.au