Mental Health: Child Assessments & Parent Consultations

Children and young people matter and they need support with their mental health. If they are struggling with their mental health this can impact the whole family. Our service provides rapid access to support from a specialist when your customers, members, or policyholders need it.

Children and young people have emotions, fears, and worries and it can be difficult as a parent to understand what is going on and how to get the best possible care for them. Teladoc Health UK is here to help.

Parental Consultation

On making a request parents will be offered an appointment to speak with a specialist. During this personalised appointment, the clinician will encourage the parent to share details of the situation, explore what support is currently being accessed, and make recommendations. Often we will provide you with information to give a better understanding of practical strategies to employ.

Child Assessment

If the child or young person is 10 years plus, and it is deemed clinically appropriate during the parental consultation, parents can be offered a minor consultation. This minor consultation will be undertaken by a specialist and gives the opportunity for the child or young person to talk directly to a clinician. At the end of the session, we will write a summary report with expert advice on the next steps.

Many children, young people, and their families have benefited from these services. Advice, reassurance, support, and direct access to an expert can make the situation feel more manageable when it is most needed. Here are two recent user experiences:

Parent of 7-year-old not eating.

“I first knew there was an issue with my 7-year-old when he stopped eating meals and lost a lot of weight. His school suggested autism. I didn’t know what to do next so I decided to try out the Teladoc Health parent consultation service to see if they could help. Jo was so helpful – she really listened.

She reassured me that I was supporting my child as best as I could and then sent me lots of useful advice on options to find an appropriate diagnostic assessment. We also talked about my child’s anger outbursts which I find so upsetting. Jo talked through some coping techniques and sent me resources to help further.

After the consultation, I felt real relief that I had had reassurance from a professional and a plan in place.”

Parent of self-harming 12-year-old

My 12-year-old daughter had been referred to CAMHS as she was self-harming and had told me that she didn’t want to be here anymore. I didn’t believe that she would end her life and that it was thoughts only. My daughter was seeing a clinical psychologist on a regular basis.

I felt I really needed to check with another professional to ensure that there wasn’t anything else I could do. The parent consultation from Teladoc Health was great. I felt really listened to.

Steph reassured me that I was supporting my child the best I could. We talked about other support for my daughter and Steph emailed me useful information for myself and my daughter.

I was also given access to Teladoc Health’s 24/7 365 mental health helpline which I used the other night, when I couldn’t sleep, and is brilliant.”

In addition to the above services, Teladoc myStrength emotional wellness app can also support young people 16+ and their parents:

• Video story | Watch Abi, 16,  here.
• Video story | Watch Lizzie, a parent, here