WillisPalmer has a team of highly trained and experienced psychiatrists available to provide high-quality assessments and reports throughout the UK. Our expert psychiatrists are able to assess both children and their families, providing recommendations and advice.

Due to an increase in demand for mental health services, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, it can be difficult to access support. Often, high thresholds for services such as Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services means young people have to experience severe mental health problems before they can access help. However, early intervention would have potentially prevented problems from escalating. WillisPalmer can provide mental health and psychiatric services to children and adults who are in need of mental help support, whether or not they reach the threshold for NHS services.

Who are our services for?

A wide range of organisations can benefit from the services we provide. This includes:

• Local authorities
• Courts
• Independent organisations
• Residential homes

Our Psychiatric Services

WillisPalmer provides a wide range of expert social work services, including the following:

• Addiction and Substance Misuse

One in three people are addicted to something according to the charity Action on Addiction. The most common addictions are gambling, drugs, alcohol and nicotine. Addiction is a treatable condition that be helped with therapy

• Autistic Spectrum Disorder

Autism is a lifelong developmental condition which affects how people communicate and interact with the world. One in 100 people are on the autism spectrum. Certain therapy can help children with autism including play and behavioural therapy.

• Capacity

Mental capacity means being able to make your own decisions. Someone lacking capacity - because of an illness or disability such as a mental health problem, dementia or a learning disability – cannot understand information given to them about a particular decision, retain that information long enough to be able to make the decision, weigh up the information available to make the decision or communicate their decision.  Psychiatrists often are called on to provide an opinion to the court regarding a person's capacity.

• Depression

Depression is a low mood that lasts for a certain period and affects your everyday life. Mild depression can mean being in low spirits. It doesn't stop you leading your normal life but makes everything harder to do. Severe depression can make you feel suicidal.

• Eating Disorders

An eating disorder is an unhealthy attitude to food, and can include under eating, binge eating or making yourself sick after meals. Treatment varies depending on the type of eating disorder, but will usually involve some kind of talking therapy.

• Fitness to Plead

Fitness to Plead is a fundamental concept of criminal justice and relates to a defendant’s ability to understand and participate in the legal process, a prerequisite to a fair trial. The assessment of fitness to plead is carried out by psychiatrists and determined by a judge. Our psychiatrists can carry out Fitness to Plead assessments.

• Forensic Risk

Forensic risk assessment aims to predict the likelihood that an individual will commit a violent or anti-social act. WillisPalmer has experienced and highly trained forensic risk assessors to carry out this work.

• Neglect

Children and young people who have experienced neglect during childhood are at an increased risk of experiencing psychiatric disorders and can benefit from assessments which can ascertain the extent of the problems.

• Parental Mental Health

Children of parents with severe mental health problems experience greater levels of emotional, psychological and behavioural problems than children and young people in the rest of the population. Psychiatrists can therefore help with assessments.

• Personality Disorders

A person with a personality disorder thinks, feels, behaves or relates to others very differently from the average person. There are several different types of personality disorder. Treatment for a personality disorder usually involves a talking therapy, which WillisPalmer can assist with.

• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or Trauma

PTSD can affect anyone who has been through a harrowing experience, who has been abused or tortured, or who knows someone who this has happened to.  There are both psychological and physical aspects to PTSD, so there are both psychological and physical treatments for it including psychotherapy or Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. We have experienced professionals who can carry out these treatments.

Our psychiatrists can carry out assessments of children and families and offer recommendations. We also provide a range of therapeutic interventions such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Family Therapy, Theraplay and Art Therapy. See our therapy services for more detailed content.

WillisPalmer is a genuinely multi-disciplinary organisation and we can provide a number of specialists from different backgrounds to work together with families experiencing difficulties in a bid to provide support and keep families together.

All reports produced by our psychiatrists are scrutinised through our robust quality assurance system to ensure we adhere to the highest standards.

Why choose WillisPalmer?

• Established for 19 years
• Experienced psychiatric professionals
• Our experts are used to communicating with children and young people
• All reports go through a robust quality assurance process to ensure high standards are adhered to
• WillisPalmer can provide multi-disciplinary services where several professionals from varying backgrounds including psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers and family support workers work together with a family experiencing difficulties.

"Regarding your service, you were prompt in returning my call, you agreed you would provide me with information before the end of the day, which happened. You were appropriate with the questions you asked, as well as having a sociable and friendly manner it was also professional."

T.C. Team Manager

How to make a referral/find out more information about our services

To make a referral to WillisPalmer, or to find out more information, you can contact us in the following ways.

Telephone 01206 878178

Email enquiry@willispalmer.com

We require certain details of information in order for us to source the most appropriate expert to meet your needs - find out more here. We will endeavour to come back to you the same or next working day, depending on the time the enquiry is made, to provide you with further information about our services.