Paediatric Psychology

Please note

This is not a crisis service for urgent mental health needs.

If you are feeling at risk to yourself, you are advised to contact your local community mental health crisis team or Emergency Department/GP. Please see the list of local crisis team phone numbers on our clinical health psychology page.

About us

The Paediatric Psychology Service currently provides support within three services across the hospital – Children’s Burns, Children’s Diabetes and the Autism Assessment Pathway.

The psychology team work closely with each of these wider teams and aim to provide assessment and/or support at a level that suits your family best. The psychology service may also connect you to other services and organisations for further support.

A Clinical Psychologist is someone who is trained to understand how people develop, think, feel and behave. We use this knowledge to try to understand the difficulties that children, young people and their families may be having, and work together with families to find different ways of trying to cope. Psychologists are not the same as psychiatrists. This means that we do not prescribe medication.

Our service is confidential. This means that we will not share any information with other people without your consent (unless we are concerned about a risk to your child, yourself, or someone else). We work closely with each multidisciplinary team and it can be helpful to share information with them, if you agree to this.

Feedback about our service

Feedback via the Friends and Family Test is anonymous and can be given in the following ways:

Online

You can leave your feedback using our online feedback form. Simply select the type of service and team or ward name you want to leave feedback about. You can also access the survey in a number of alternative languages via this link.

QR code

Using your smartphone you can scan the QR code found on some of our posters, leaflets, flyers and on our Friends and Family Test feedback cards that you should see around our wards and departments.

Feedback cards

You may be offered a card by a staff member for you to share your feedback with us.

Meet the team

MY Team

Children’s (Paediatric) Burns and Diabetes

Who is the service for?

Our service offers specialist assessment and psychological support to children, young people (0-18 years old) and families whose lives have been affected by a burn injury or diabetes. We work closely with other professionals to contribute to patient care. Experiencing injury or a health condition can understandably affect children and families in many different ways.

We aim to support children, young people and their families by working together to develop a clear understanding of the difficulties and how these might be addressed. This can include helping individuals to make sense of their experiences, consider different strategies for coping with the emotional impact of these changes, and exploring different ways to maximise quality of life.

How do I access the service?

Any health care professional within the Burns or Diabetes teams can make a referral to our service (with the patient’s consent). If you wish to access the psychology service, please discuss this with a professional who is involved with your child’s care.

What will happen at my first appointment?

At your first appointment, we will ask some questions about the kind of problems your child/family are having and what other people have noticed. We might ask you to fill in some questionnaires. Your appointment is likely to last one hour and the purpose is to help us find the best way to support you.

We will agree a plan for any more appointments and what this might involve.

You can also use this appointment to ask any questions.

What if I have questions?

Please speak to a member of your child’s medical team for more information.

Useful links

Burns

Children's Burns Trust

Supportingchildrenwithburns

Diabetes

Autism Assessment Pathway

Some members of the Paediatric Psychology Service also contribute to the Mid Yorkshire Autism Assessment Pathway. This service is for children and young people aged 0-18 years. For more information please visit Wakefield Council's local offer.

Making a referral

If you think your child may have Autism, you may wish to refer them for an Autism Assessment.

You will firstly need to fill out a Social Communication Assessment referral form, which can be found on the local offer website (link above). The referral form has two sections; one to be filled out by parents/carers and one to be filled out by professionals who have contact with your child (this can be education, social workers, portage, health visitors or child minders). Your referral will either be accepted and progress on, or will be rejected and a discharge letter will be sent. If your referral is accepted, you will be put on a waiting list to see a Community Paediatrician in a Social communication clinic. If the Paediatrician thinks Autism could explain your child’s differences, then your referral will be accepted and progressed onto the Multi-Disciplinary Assessment (MDA) waiting list.

What happens at assessment?

Your child may attend a setting, where they will be assessed by our team. Our team is made up of:

A Speech and Language Therapist – for assessment of your child’s social communication skills.
An Occupational Therapist – for assessment of your child’s functional abilities, including their movement patterns and sensory processing needs.
A Clinical or Educational Psychologist – for assessment of your child’s social and emotional development.

Following on from assessment, members of our team will discuss your child and provide feedback of the outcome of the assessment, which could be; diagnosed with Autism, Autism diagnosis not given or inconclusive. If inconclusive, further observations might be needed.

You will receive a report detailing the outcomes and will be invited to an appointment at our follow up clinic, where you can discuss any questions you have about the assessment process or report.

For more information about Autism Assessments, please see: https://wakefield.mylocaloffer.org/