It's not us and them, we are them

Claire Molloy (top) and
Chantal Basson (bottom)

We are continuing our series of guest blogs with a wonderful contribution from Dr Chantal Basson, lead consultant clinical child psychologist.

In her guest blog Chantal talks openly about the challenges she has faced as a child, student and adult: from Burnley to the Middle East and soon to the Caribbean. 

She also covers her passion about the job, the CAMHS name change and the humbling and inspirational impact of working with incredible colleagues and brave families.

Dr Chantal Basson, lead consultant clinical child psychologist

I came into CAMHS as a psychologist for children and families affected by learning disabilities. I’ve been really lucky to have had a really rich career in Pennine Care and am grateful for all of the opportunities that this has brought my way. In particular, Sara Barnes and Jason Smith really helped me pave my way.

I feel particularly privileged due to having started out in very poor areas of Burnley and Stockport. Life changed dramatically when my dad secured a job in the Middle East when I was four. Suddenly, I was on the beach every day and learning to water ski! When I was six I became partially deaf through illness and learnt to adapt to a new sense of balance and hearing.

Mental health services are close to my heart as, having experienced some intergenerational trauma in my family and as a university student and young adult, I accessed mental health services to help me understand some of my experiences and internal struggles.

I am passionate about working with children in CAMHS, because I know that the earlier we help families and children with their emotional wellbeing and mental health, the better their outcomes. I feel that my own experiences have made me want to champion child mental health, but also to work on the stigma of mental health: that it’s not us and them, and that we are them.

I hear so many inspiring stories from colleagues about their own experience of services, and yet I feel that this is an area that is still not spoken about enough. We know that more staff than ever are accessing our wellbeing services, and I am so relieved to hear this. I’ve also accessed some wellbeing sessions from the resilience hub, and have found them enormously helpful in getting through the difficult time that the pandemic has brought for all of us.

Changing our name will help our families, communities and partner agencies understand who we are and what we do, as well as being aligned with our Greater Manchester partners. And while we are changing our name, we aren’t changing our enthusiasm and passion. Our services are filled with the most incredible staff that I’ve had the privilege to work with and I gain my inspiration from them every day.

I’ve been lucky to grow with Pennine Care for the last 15 years and, in that time, I’ve worked with some incredible families.

One that comes to mind is a family where a young person had experienced an asthma attack at age 14, and who had developed a severe brain injury. Working with the parent in their time of severe grief was one of the most humbling and rewarding pieces of work I’ve done in my career.

Another time, I worked with a parent who found it really hard to access services for her son with a moderate learning disability. We never managed to make it to a comfortable place and, although she attended appointments, it was really hard for us to make progress together. I still see her in Tesco from time to time. It was still an enormous privilege and each family I have worked with has a small area in my memory where I keep hold of them. The bravery and perseverance of so many individuals I’ve worked with is incredible.

During my time in CAMHS, my hobbies and family have also grown.

I’m passionate about wellbeing and try to look after myself, as well as others in our services. With a love of all things outdoors, my husband and I were avid rock climbers and snow-boarders when I came into CAMHS, but since then we’ve taken up kite surfing, paragliding (given up because it’s terrifying) and scuba diving. Our daughters (2½  and 6) now climb, and I’m looking forward to getting them scuba diving when they’re old enough.

I am soon to be off on my own new journey and adventure, living and working in the Caribbean. I’ll be working with children and families who experience a variety of mental health difficulties, but some of which is the result of intergenerational trauma and difficulties rooted in the history of slavery.

With the amount of investment in and transformation across our systems, I am really hopeful about the future of CAMHS and hope to leave a little of my ideas in the planning for this.

Thank you.