Dr Claire Hill (Clinical Psychologist and Postdoctoral Research Fellow) is leading on an innovative project within AnDY, developing and evaluating an online treatment programme for childhood anxiety disorders. This will be based on an evidence-based treatment approach, in which the therapist works with the parent to guide them in how to help their child overcome their anxiety. By providing this treatment online, with “virtual” sessions with a therapist instead of coming into the clinic, we hope to be able to make the treatment more accessible to families as well as more efficient and therefore more cost-effective. With pressures to deliver more on less within Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), it is hoped that by offering online treatments as a treatment option for families it will improve access to evidence-based treatment. We are currently in the process of tendering for a website development company to build the website and accompanying apps, and hope to start development in Spring/early Summer. We plan to involve service users throughout the development, in order to ensure that the website and apps are usable, engaging and met the needs of those who will use it. We will then evaluate it’s feasibility, acceptability and effectiveness when offered as a treatment option for childhood anxiety disorders within a CAMHS setting.
