STAR service

The STAR service is the Supportive Treatment and Recovery service provided by Sheffield Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). 

This service is provided for under 16s. If you are aged 16-17, you would be required to attend the Northern General Hospital. Our Community Intensive Treatment Service (CIT) will be offered to this age group in consultation with our Consultant Psychiatry Colleagues.

Who is in the STAR team?

The team consists of mental health nurses, medics and a psychiatric consultant.

We are a team that has many roles to support the children and young people of Sheffield in the following areas:

Deliberate Self Harm – When a young person has made deliberate self harm attempts and/or has thoughts of wanting to end their life and have presented at the Sheffield Children’s Hospital to receive support, a referral may be made to the STAR team by the hospital staff. We will assess the current presentation and level of risk and determine what intervention may be needed. We can refer onto our CAMHS community teams and/or signpost to other support available to meet the young person’s/family’s needs.

Follow Up – We have the capacity to provide a short term intervention service following an assessment. If we feel that our involvement would provide benefit to the young person, we may offer several contacts a week either by telephone or face to face appointments. The intensity and length of the follow up will vary from each individual dependent upon the risks and presentation.

Community Intensive Treatment – When a 16-17 year old has been assessed at the Northern General Hospital, the young person may be referred to the team for CIT. Referrals can also be made by Community CAMHS clinicians if they feel a more intensive support package would be of benefit for a young person they are working with. This would involve the team making regular contact with the young person for a short period of time to provide intensive support and safety management during a time of crisis. The level of intervention will depend on the need of that individual. This can be done with face to face appointments, home visits and phone calls.

How to make a referral to the STAR service

A young person must be referred by a healthcare professional. If you have a young person who attends the Emergency Department or is admitted to a hospital ward, the person responsible for their care should make a referral by contacting the Becton admin team during the hours of 9am to 4pm. After these hours, you must make the referral directly to the STAR team. When making a referral for a CIT, contact the STAR team directly. When out of hours (9am to 4pm), please discuss with the on call consultant for Sheffield CAMHS accessed through SCH Switchboard 0114 2717000.