STAR service

The Supportive Treatment And Recovery service is known as the STAR team, part of Sheffield Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). 

The service assesses and supports children and young people under 18 who need extra help after coming to hospital because of their mental health.

Who is in the STAR team?

The STAR team includes mental health nurses, mental health practitioners, doctors, and a consultant psychiatrist. Together, we help children and young people in Sheffield who are experiencing a mental health crisis.

What does the STAR team do?

The STAR team provides support in three main areas:

1. Mental health assessment in crisis
2. Follow-up support
3. Community intensive treatment (CIT)

Mental health assessment in crisis

If a young person under 16 comes to Sheffield Children’s Hospital because of their mental health, hospital staff will refer them to the STAR team.

At Sheffield Children’s Hospital, the STAR team will meet with the young person and family member or carer (who is over 18) to understand what’s been happening, hear about how the young person has been feeling, and assess any risks.

Together, we’ll create a safety plan and, where possible, aim to support a young person to be able to go home. Part of this safety plan will recommend other professionals and services that may be able to help. This may be through self-referral or a STAR referral, depending on the service.

Where the STAR team feel is is appropriate, young people may also receive short-term follow-up support from the STAR service.

Follow-up support

Following an assessment, we may offer short-term follow-up support to further assess risk, help with safety planning, speak to relevant professionals and build on a young person’s skills to manage distress and difficult emotions in the future.

This typically includes a few phone calls or face-to-face appointments (for a maximum of 2 weeks), depending on what a young person needs. The number of sessions and length of support will depend on many different factors assessed by STAR. When a young person is discharged from the service, the STAR team make a care plan to reflect progress made and the plan for the future.

Community intensive treatment (CIT)

Following a STAR assessment or referral by Liaison Psychiatry, a young person may be referred to the community intensive treatment team. A CAMHS worker can also send a referral for this service if a young person is already receiving CAMHS support and needs some extra help for a short time.

Community intensive treatment provides intensive, short-term support or treatment during a difficult period of mental health crisis for up to 2 weeks. This might include regular phone calls, and face-to-face meetings and working with other professionals.

How to get help from the STAR team

To access a mental health crisis assessment from the STAR service, a young person will need to go to the Sheffield Children’s emergency department. From there, a healthcare professional, such as a nurse, doctor, or mental health worker will refer them to the STAR service. The STAR team accept referrals between 8:30am to 7:30pm, 7 days a week. If a young person comes to the emergency department in crisis outside of these hours, they will be encouraged to remain in the hospital to wait for a STAR assessment the following day.

Follow-up or community intensive treatment can be referred to by community CAMHS or Liaison Psychiatry. This can either be from the Northern General Hospital if a young person is aged 16 or 17, or any other hospitals when the young person has a Sheffield GP. Referring clinicians need to complete the STAR referral form. If you are a professional, please call 0114 30 53106 if you have any further questions about the referral process.