ABSTRACT
The encampment sites from where Bronze Age families kept watch over the sea-plains now lie empty and windswept above the market town. Those families were well practised in survival and social skills that families in the early twenty-first century may not possess. As a child and adolescent mental health service (CAMHS) team, we work in a semi-rural locality with families experiencing problems with a child or children from birth to eighteen. We are a tier three service, so practise at a district general hospital level of specialization. The team comprises a consultant psychiatrist (me), two nurses, two psychologists and some additional psychotherapy and occupational therapy time. We receive 1880 referrals annually from a population catchment of 128,200 children and young people. Although the county appears affluent to outsiders, there are pockets of real poverty in both town and country.
