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Parental Mental Health Pathway

Parental Mental Health Pathway

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The Parental Mental Health Pathway is a team within CAMHS Core Therapy Team that provides psychological interventions and tailored support to families, addressing mental health issues in parents and their children aged 2 to 11 years old (up to the completion of Primary School). 
 
This support might be for problems with emotions, behaviours and or relationships. We welcome referrals and self-referrals from families from diverse backgrounds, cultures and non-heteronormative families. 
The Parental Mental Health Pathway operated in partnership with Islington NHS Talking Therapy.

How you may be feeling:

 

Stressed out and overwhelmed, tearful and upset or anxious.

What we do:

 
We offer a range of interventions and tailor the support we offer to each individual family. Our team is made up of Clinical Psychologists, Child Psychotherapists and Family Therapists. We can work with you in different ways, and sometimes a combination of these works best. Please see below for details on what we may be able to offer.
 

Adult Mental Health

 

We can offer therapies to tackle common adult mental health issues like depression and anxiety, CBT, trauma informed work. Therapy often involves understanding how the past influences you and your parenting, as well as developing ideas for things you can do differently in the here-and-now. There is strong evidence that through supporting adult’s mental health, this has an impact on parent-child relation and child wellbeing.
 


Family Therapy

This therapy believes that the way people interact with others, influences the way individuals think, act and feels about themselves and their difficulties. It focuses on relationships and ways that people in families interact in the present, and how this might be influenced by the family’s experiences, history and surroundings.
In Family Therapy we use talking and other ways of communicating. We may ask you to think about inviting a range of different people from the family to attend.
 
Family Therapy helps people in close relationships:
 
  • think about how to help each other
  • express and explore difficult thoughts and emotions safely
  • understand each other’s experiences and views
  • build on strengths in their relationship
  • make changes in their relationships and lives.
 

Couples Co-parent Clinic

 
A systemic intervention offered to parent couples who want to improve their communication, strengthening the couple relationship as a resource for adult and child mental health.
We can see parents who are in relationships or separated and co-parenting. The clinic is suitable for any two people that co-parent a child together: for example a parent and grandparent could attend.
 

Parent-Child Psychotherapy

We work with parents and children to help them communicate better and enjoy each other. The therapist helps parents to think about their child’s play, emotions and behaviour. Parents also have opportunities to reflect on their own experience of being a child and how they would like to care for and set limits for their child.

Integrated Family Work


We can work with parents to understand what might be causing or keeping a problem going. When we understand the problem better, we can think together to work out some solutions. This might involve changes in routines, rules, or strategies. We always work with parents to find solutions that fit their family’s needs.

MindSkills


This course aims to help parents who feel low in mood, anxious, stressed or lacking in confidence. Being a parent can be tough so it offers you a chance to learn more about worry and low mood and learn different ways of handling these times. The course is based on cognitive behavioural principles, which have been researched and found to be effective in helping with these problems.
The course is practical and the aim is to help you to develop skills to use in your day to day life. For that reason, it includes exercises to do during each session and between sessions, as well as helpful summary hand outs that you can keep.
 

Mellow Parenting Group


Growing Together runs Mellow Parenting groups for mums who would like support with the challenges of parenting. It’s a day-long group in which group members share with each other their ideas and experiences, while their children attend a crèche. In the morning, mums are given a space to think about their own experiences, both past and present. At lunchtime the mums, children and group facilitators all eat together and take part in a fun activity with the children. In the afternoon we think about parenting and how to understand and manage children’s behaviour. Videos of group members with their child are used to help promote discussion about parenting challenges, and to receive advice and support from the group.?Click here?for more information.
 

Where would I see someone?


We work with families in various community locations in Islington, like children’s centres or health centres and at the Northern Health Centre.


Eligibility Criteria


Inclusions
 
  • Registered with an Islington GP
  • Parent/carer has consented to being referred to the Parental Mental Health Pathway
  • Parent/carer has mental health needs or is experiencing psychological distress and the child also has needs
  • Child is aged 2-10 years.

Exclusions
 
  • Parent requires secondary care mental health services (e.g. has significant mental health issues and/or severe risk issues)
  • Only parent or child has needs, or where another service would be more suitable
  • Safeguarding concerns (e.g. the family is currently undergoing assessment with child social services).
Monday to Friday
9am to 5pm

How to refer


SEMH front door (new referrals and general enquiries): 020 7527 3355 | Central CAMHS Enquiries (open referrals): 020 3316 1824


Referral?information


All SEMH / CAMHS referrals are processed through our single point?of?access.


For more information or to make a referral, please visit our?SEMH page.


Last updated08 Jul 2026
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