Acute Care and Response Team

An East Acute Care and Response Team (ACRT) currently provides supplementary, intensive mental health support to existing East (Swan, Bentley, Armadale) CAMHS clients.

Access to ACRT is based on referral via a Community CAMHS case manager, in collaboration with young people and their families.

The ACRT is comprised of specialist mental health clinicians who work with young people in their home, a community setting or your local CAMHS clinic, including outside of standard business hours.

During the time that ACRT are involved, young people will continue to have access to the multidisciplinary team at their local Community CAMHS clinic.

ACRT and Community CAMHS work in collaboration with young people and their families and carers to set goals for the ACRT intensive support period.

Some of the work that the ACRT do include:

• Supporting the development of coping strategies to deal with distress and thoughts of self-harm.
• Supporting and empowering parents to have the skills and resources to manage risk and distress in the home.
• Working with schools to allow continued engagement in education, e.g. via safety planning, identifying appropriate supports or gradual return to school.
• Addressing severe social withdrawal / anxiety through graded exposure in the home environment and supporting school engagement.

In future phases ACRT will be available across the metropolitan area.

For mental health support when Community CAMHS and ACRT are not available, please call CAMHS Crisis Connect on 1800 048 636.