Often confused with Child and Family Services or with the Child Development Project, many people don?t really understand what Child and Adolescent Services does, says manager Sharon Apopa.

Child and Adolescent Services has a staff of nine ? a psychiatrist, a psychologist, a social worker, a family therapist, a clinic nurse, an occupational therapist, a new position of clinical assistant, a manager and a secretary ? all of whom have specific training in their disciplines to work with children.

?We actually provide the clinical psychiatric and psychological care for people aged 4 -19,? said Ms Apopa. ?We are more like the support services to Child and Family Services. They do all the investigations in terms of the trauma that has impacted on children?s lives and then we do the treatment as a result of the trauma that?s been caused.?

The unit differs from the Child Development Project in the age of its clients. The Child Development Project see infants up to the age of four. Child and Adolescent Services, as the name suggests, see children and adolescents.

?The services are really designed to be a seamless approach to mental health services where children are concerned,? said Ms Apopa. ?We collaborate very closely with them and our psychologist Sandy DeSilva sits as our representative on the Child Development Team.

?We have close alliances with Child and Family Services because they deal with children in crisis all the time. And we know that stress has the ability to im-pact the mental health of children and just as it does adults,? she said.

?We are in contact on a daily basis regarding these children and we do see a high relationship between the children that they service and the children that we service.?

The office has seen a steady increase in the number of children requiring their help over the years. At the time of the interview, late last month, they had 273 cases.

The increased numbers and increased severity of cases is putting pressure on the unit to expand from its offices on Berry Hill Road beside King Eward VII Memorial Hospital.

?At the moment we have outgrown our current location and we need to provide an in-patient unit and a day service for children. This will greatly improve the quality of care that we provide to Bermuda,? said Ms Apopa.

Currently children requiring in-patient care are sent to either the paediatric ward at KEMH or the adult ward at the Mid Atlantic Wellness Institute.

Asked if it was appropriate for children to be kept in the adult facility, Ms Apopa said: ?At the moment this is the only option until we expand and build our own unit.?

She explained that the unit is necessary to help reduce the stress and trauma to child clients.

Under the present system there are children with acute mental needs who are sent to facilities overseas because they need the combination of care and education.

The planned expansion has received Government approval and funding.

It will see a day hospital that includes instructional time for the child patients.

?It will be good to have this on Island because sending them away meets the needs for clinical care and instructional time but it separates the child from the family,? said Ms Apopa.

?We believe the child is better served remaining in the community and attached to the family so that we do not have to go through the reunification process that can be another stressor on the child once they return home.?

She said that best practice in the profession dictates that children should be treated with as little disruption to their lives as possible.

Most children are treated on an out-patient basis.

They come to the office a few times a week ? whatever has been set out in their particular treatment programme, and go home afterward.

?If they need additional support then we will send in our clinical assistant, who goes in and helps the family,? she said.