"It is difficult to know where to start"

My son (late teens) has had poor mental health since the age of 4. We have engaged with pretty much every health agency in Oxfordshire, including CAMHS. The fact that this is the go-to service for young people's mental health is truly scary.

It is difficult to know where to start with just how bad our experience has been.

• The waiting times are often of two years or more.

• The treatment offered is of little use, often consisting of online forums and vague parental self help programs that are simply unfit for purpose.

• Upon completing a course of this 'treatment' the young person is simply discharged with no follow on care, and no escalation of care if that initial course of treatment has proved ineffective.

• We were offered involvement with an online forum. There is no user verification with this forum, meaning that anyone of any age could begin conversations with vulnerable young people. It does not appear to be moderated in any way. A majority of the accounts on it are automated bots with no human involvement behind them. The fact that this is considered treatment for mental health conditions is nothing short of scandalous.

• Upon making a complaint, I was told that the CAMHS service was decimated by COVID and lockdown. COVID was over 5 years ago. I would have expected somebody to have dragged the service back into something resembling normalcy by now. I suspect that the poor service on offer now is regarded as normal.