CHRIS (Co-ordinated Help and Risk Intervention Service)

Useful links

• Co-ordinated Help and Risk Intervention Service Leaflet (PDF, 221KB).
• The Source website for young people
• Kooth - confidential chat and counselling service (11-25 year olds)
• Emotional Wellbeing Hub and Just One Service
• Barnardo's Phoneline Service
• CAMHS Resources | Websites
• Children and Young People Services (CYP) privacy notice - Suffolk County Council

Useful links

• Co-ordinated Help and Risk Intervention Service Leaflet (PDF, 170KB).
• PACT | Parents And Carers Together | Suffolk - Support parents and carers to support the mental health of their children and young people
• NHS Mental Health Crisis Support Line 
• Mind is a mental health charity - They aim to make sure no one has to face a mental health problem alone
• The NSFT Mental Health Liaison Service based at Ipswich Hospital and West Suffolk Hospital
• CAMHS Resources Websites
• Emotional Wellbeing Hub and Just One Service
• Barnardo's Phoneline Service
• Children and Young People Services (CYP) privacy notice - Suffolk County Council

CHRIS only accepts referrals from existing practitioners working with the child/young person who work in core Suffolk County Council and NSFT (Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust) teams.

This can also include NSFT services that have had contact with CYP (children and young people) in crisis, such as Crisis Home Treatment team, and Psychiatric liaison team in A&E.

CHRIS are not able to assess children/young people and families at the point of crisis presentation (e.g. when they first arrive in A&E). Our work is focussed on preventing crisis.

Children, young people and families living in Lowestoft and Waveney.

Where the needs of children, young people and their families are better supported through other intensive support services. This can be services such as Forensic CAMHS, intensive support team in Suffolk (Learning Disabilities & Autism Services - NHS West Suffolk Clinical Commissioning Group).

Where the needs of the child/young person may better suit longer-term therapeutic support. For example family therapy work or psychotherapy.

We recognise that for many young people that these struggles, and feelings are just the tip of the iceberg of what they may be experiencing underneath.

We will continuously seek young people’s views as we believe this is key to better understand their situation and for progress to be made.

CHRIS will work together with other teams and services that exist at Suffolk County Council (SCC) or in the NHS.

It is hard to specify an exact time frame, but we are a short-term intervention team providing, safety planning advice, support, and intervention. CHRIS normally works with a family for up to six weeks, with our focus being upon risk assessment, understanding and support to prevent a crisis in occurring. We will also explore what longer term services may be helpful.

CHRIS sits within the THRIVE model.  The THRIVE model is developed by the Anna Freud Centre, provides a framework for developing ‘joined up’ multi-agency approaches to meet the needs of children, young people and their families. Within the THRIVE model, CHRIS sits within the ‘getting risk support’ quadrant; and forms part of the crisis response pathway for Child and young people in Suffolk.

A brief introduction to the THRIVE model can be viewed here:

Please refer to our referral criteria. The referring agency will let the family know they are making a referral to the CHRIS team. You will then receive a call from our duty worker explaining the referral has been received and will be discussed within a multi-disciplinary meeting (MDT), which falls on Monday -Fridays. The outcome of the MDT will be shared with you by ourselves or the referring agency.

If your young person is experiencing repeated high levels of emotional distress, you can speak to their key worker regarding making a referral.

A key worker can be but is not limited to your child’s social worker, Family Support (formally known as Early Help) practitioner or care coordinator from the community adolescent mental health team, youth offending worker or school nurse.

If the referral is accepted under a direct pathway, we will make contact within 24 hours of the multi-disciplinary meeting. Your CHRIS worker will meet with you and the young person, to put an immediate plan to help make things feel safer. We will continue to review this safety plan with the young person on each visit. This will be in consultation with the young person, carers and other important people in their lives.

From this we will create formulation and a care plan. Formulations is a way of making sense of what has gone on/is going on and can help people to understand how and why they might have come to feel the way they do.

For example we will look at what triggered things, what things are keeping the crisis going and what is helping the young person to manage this now or has helped in the past.

This helps with planning what needs to happen next, to start tackling the situation and to begin to help young people to feel or cope differently.

We typically allocate two workers and visit frequency will be determined once we get to know the young person. We will see a young person at least once a week.

Yes, if this is felt useful for you and your family and is linked to risk stabilisation. This will be discussed in consultation with the family and will be agreed in Multi-Disciplinary Meeting.

We welcome all kinds feedback from our service users as this helps our learning and service improvement. 

Send us your compliments or complaints about the service you have received from Suffolk County Council. 

Please also provide feedback to the CHRIS service by clicking on the button below: