Child and Youth Mental Health Service (CYMHS)Mental Health
Urgent Advice
For urgent advice in times of mental health crisis, please call 1300 MH CALL (1300 64 22 55). The confidential telephone triage service provides the first point of contact to public mental health services 24 hours, 7 days a week.
Useful Management Information
- Child and Youth Mental Health Service (CYMHS) offers community and inpatient-based specialist mental health care for children and young people, aged <25 years, and their families, who live in the Gold Coast region and have complex mental health needs.
- Care is offered by a multidisciplinary team of professionals including Psychiatrists, Mental Health Nurses and Clinicians, Allied Health Professionals (Psychology, Social Work, Occupational Therapy, Speech Pathology) and carer/peer workers.
- Referrals to the service are made by contacting 1300 MHCALL (1300 64 22 55), where possible with parental/guardian consent.
- Additional information to support a referral can be emailed through to: cymhsaccessteam@health.qld.gov.au
- Following referral to the service a clinician will contact the young person’s family to complete a telephone triage.
- A child/young person and their family may be offered an appointment for an initial assessment and/or offered support during a crisis.
- They may receive information and guidance on how to access other services in the community which will better suit their needs or be referred to one of our continuing care teams or specialty services.
Clinician and family resource:
Child and Youth Mental Health (CYMHS) at Gold Coast Health
Are you referring to the right service?
- CYMHS provide the following clinical services:
- Mental Health triage, comprehensive assessment, and specialist consultation for young people experiencing or at risk of experiencing complex mental health difficulties
- Acute care and brief intervention
- Evidence based psychological and pharmalogical treatment for mental illness
- Collaborative care coordination
- Carer and family support
- Referrals to other community services
Out of Scope Services
The following conditions are out of scope for this service:
- Adults over the age of 25 years
- Residing outside of the Gold Coast catchment area
- Family court assessments or intervention
- Second opinion psychiatric assessments
- Assessment or treatment of primary development disorders (Autism Spectrum Disorder, Intellectual impairment, Pervasive Developmental Disorders etc)
- Any child/young person who is acutely unwell and requiring emergency healthcare should present to the Emergency Department.
Out of Catchment
Gold Coast Health is responsible for providing public health services to the people who reside within its boundaries. Special consideration is made for patients requiring tertiary services or for services that are not provided by their local hospital and health service district. If your patient lives outside the Gold Coast Health catchment area and you wish to refer them to one of our services, please indicate relevant medical or social information that will assist with the processing of your referral.
Notes
Please note that where appropriate and where available, the referral may be streamed to an associated public allied health and/or nursing service. Access to some specific services may include initial assessment and management by associated allied health and/or nursing, which may either facilitate or negate the need to see the public medical specialist.
- A change in patient circumstance (such as condition deteriorating or becoming pregnant) may affect the urgency categorisation and should be communicated as soon as possible.
- Please indicate in the referral if the patient is unable to access mandatory tests or investigations as they incur a cost or are unavailable locally.
- If your patient consents to telehealth, please indicate in the body of the referral.
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No facilities listedIf you would like to send a named referral, please address it to the specialist listed above, who will allocate a suitably qualified specialist to see the patient. Alternatively, you can view a full list of our specialists.