Paediatric Psychology Service
The Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin children's Paediatric Psychology Service (PPS) delivers specialist psychological interventions for children and young people with chronic, life-threatening or significant physical health problems and their families, with a focus on helping them to cope with and adjust to their conditions.
The service works with children and young people, aged 0-18 years, who are registered with a Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin GP practice and their families.
There are arrangements to see some families from Powys and other areas by prior agreement with commissioners in those areas and where the child's medical care is under one of the hospitals in Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin.
All of our leaflets and resources about our service can be found here.
Our services
Where are we?
Directions to Monkmoor Campus Guide
Other ways to get support
We apologise that we are unable to see all children and young people with physical health conditions. We recognise that there are gaps in local service provision and this can be frustrating - we continue to work hard to try and address this and extend the reach of paediatric psychology provision.
We would like to signpost you to services where you may be able to access some support. Below is a list of potential helpful resources that we can signpost you to:
Talking to your GP can often be helpful and they will be able to signpost or refer you to the appropriate service where available.
Schools often know your children really well so will be in a good place to offer support/advice. Pastoral Teams and SENCOs will be able to discuss your child's needs and can often help with making referrals for assessments e.g. mental health or neurodiversity. Every school and educational setting in Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin should have a designated lead for Mental Health. The designated mental health lead can be contacted for advice and help about supporting a child in school.
BeeU/CAMHS provides emotional wellbeing and mental health support for children and young people (ages 0 to 25) in Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin. This service provides:
- Emotional wellbeing and mental health services for children and young people (0-25)
- Neurodevelopmental assessments for children – autism for 5-18 year olds, and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) for 6-18 year olds
- Community Eating Disorder Services for 0-18 year olds
There are lots of Voluntary Organisations and Charities that may be able to help you; if you have access, you can search the web. There are lots of charities that support specific health conditions.
Hope House supports children with life-threatening conditions and their families.
Autism/ADHD - Autism West Midlands provides information and support for autistic people and their families. They also have a helpline which welcomes calls from parents, autistic adults, carers and professionals who live in the West Midlands to discuss concerns they have about autism (with or without a diagnosis).
The British Psychological Society (BPS) or the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) can help you find registered and regulated psychological support if you can't access it through the NHS.
If you are a parent/carer and are looking for support for yourself and/or your family there are a number of places you can access this:
- Parents Opening Doors (PODS) - An independent Telford and Wrekin based charity for parents/carers who have a child or young person between 0-25 with a disability or additional needs of any kind.
- Parent and Carer Council (PACC) - A Shropshire based parent/carer forum that promotes the participation of parent/carers in the planning and delivery of services for children and young people (0-25) with disabilities or additional needs.
- Solihull Approach - Supports mental health and welling in parents across the UK though online courses, training and resources.
- Family Connect - Provides impartial advice, information, guidance and support on a range of children's services across Telford including childcare, activities, school admission and finance, helping to ensure families get the right help at the right time.
- Early help - Helps to bring together services to provide the support for families that they need. This may include parenting support, mental health support, youth services, youth offending teams, and housing and employment services.
Healthier Together - A Shropshire Telford & Wrekin initiative that provides physical and mental health information and advice to parents and young people.
The Patient Advice and Liaison Services (PALS) offers confidential advice, support and information on health-related matters for patients, their families and their carers.
If you are concerned about a child, young person or vulnerable adult being harmed or at risk of being harmed, please see the safeguarding website for more information on what to do, or contact First Point of Contact on 0345 678 9021.
Contact us
Contact us
Paediatric Psychology Service
Tel: 01743 730138
Professional Lead and Consultant Clinical Psychologist
Dr Camilla Johns
Officer Manager and Team Secretary
Cathy Challenor
shropcom.ppsadmin@nhs.net
Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) and our "Local Offer"
What is the Local Offer?
The local offer provides information for children and young people with special educational needs (SEND) and their parents or carers in a single place. You can find out more about information about this on our SEND reforms and Local Offers page.
Service Description
In the Paediatric Psychology Service (PPS) we have Clinical Psychologists and Assistant Psychologists. The team works specifically with children and young people who have physical health conditions and are under the care of specific medical teams, who are therefore eligible for specialist psychological input as part of their care. For further details please go to the Paediatric Psychology Service pages listed above.
What do you provide to children and young people with an additional need and or disability 0-25yrs?
Psychologists may meet with children and families themselves, or they may work indirectly, by supporting the professionals and teams providing their care. They may also provide teaching, training and consultation to bring psychological perspectives to the work of the team. When working directly with children and/or their families, psychologists will usually meet over a number of assessment sessions, to thoroughly understand all the relevant issues. These discussions will include thinking about what kind of help is needed, who wants and needs it, and how/where it can be arranged. We meet with children and families in clinics, in our own meeting rooms, or sometimes in their home or school, if this is appropriate. The service is voluntary, so we never arrange to meet people unless they are wanting to do so.
Do you provide support for parents and carers?
When children and young people face problems or are in distress, it is often very upsetting and difficult for close family members too. Psychologists may offer help and support to parents/carers and families, providing advice and helping to develop strategies for coping. For example, this may include helping parents/carers to support and manage their children's behaviour when they are feeling distressed or worried, helping them think about how to support brothers and sisters; helping parents who have different ways of coping to try to keep working together as a couple; helping individual family members including siblings to find a safe, confidential place to talk about what is happening and how it affects them.
Who can use our service? Age? Disability?
The Paediatric Psychology Service works with children and young people, aged 0-18 years, who are registered with a GP practice in Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin and their families. The support we offer is for young people who have:
- Diabetes
- Cancer or chronic haematology conditions
- Cystic Fibrosis
- Muscular Dystrophy or other neuromuscular conditions
- An allocated Shropshire Community Children’s Nurse (CCN)
- Support from the nurse-led chronic constipation service (Telford and Wrekin only)
- Significant anxiety and require preparation to enable a one off, planned medical procedure (e.g. surgery)
Referral criteria include that the primary presenting problem is principally related to the child's physical health and its impacts - the service is not a mental health provision and children with primarily mental health needs should be signposted/referred to the "Bee-U" service (Emotional Health and Wellbeing Service, formerly CAMHS) rather than this service.
The service cannot accept referrals for areas other than the targeted ones above. Some of the above teams within the hospital include patients from Powys or neighbouring counties.
Children and young people who are struggling with their mental health and those with a learning disability may be best served by the Bee-U service provision, which can offer specialist interventions for these populations. These services are delivered by the Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. Please see their website for further details about service remit. Where there is overlap between our services, discussion about the best service to meet the child/family's identified needs is held between the relevant teams, to ensure child-centred care.
How to access our service (inc. referral routes)
Please see the page for the relevant service you are interested in:
How can families contact the service?
If you would like further information please don't hesitate to get in touch:
- Tel: 01743 730138
- Email: shropcom.ppsadmin@nhs.net
For external agencies: is the service free or charged?
Free
How can families complain if they are not happy with the service?
All complaints are handled by our Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) and Complaints teams.