Mental health services at The Children's Hospital at Westmead

Contact details

The Outpatient department operates from 8.00am – 4.30pm, Monday to Friday

Location: Level 3 on Outpatients Street, Level 3, The Children’s Hospital at Westmead

The Department of Psychological Medicine provides multidisciplinary mental health services that are evidence-based and patient-centred for children and families.

We promote the health and psychosocial wellbeing of all children and young people through education/training, research, liaison and advocacy. We see children and young people up to the age of 16 years, who receive ongoing care from a specialist medical or surgical service within The Children’s Hospital at Westmead.

The Department of Psychological Medicine includes seven core clinical teams, loosely defined around a sub-speciality. These eight teams include: Consultation-Liaison, Developmental Psychiatry, Eating Disorders, Emergency Department Mental Health Clinical Nurse Consultants, Hall Ward, Help2Win and the Mind-Body team for Functional Somatic Symptoms.

This is not a crisis service.

If someone has attempted or is at risk of attempting, harm to themselves or others, call 000 or present to your nearest emergency department. If you or someone you know needs help, call the Mental Health Access Line – the state-wide mental health information and referral service which operates 24/7.

  • Mental Health Access Line: 1800 011 511

The Department of Psychological Medicine includes eight core clinical teams, loosely defined around a sub-speciality. These eight teams include:

Developmental Psychiatry Team

The Developmental Psychiatry team provides medical and allied health services to support the mental health needs of children and young people with neurodevelopmental concerns such as Autism Spectrum Disorder and Intellectual Disability. They provide services to families who are inpatients or accessing medical treatment as outpatients.

The team provides services to current patients of the hospital, as well as a state-wide Tertiary or Second Opinion Service to community paediatricians and child psychiatrists who manage patients with an Intellectual Disability and/or Autism Spectrum Disorder – The Mental Health Intellectual Disability Service.

The Developmental Psychiatry Team also includes the Children’s Hospital at Westmead School-Link Initiative and the Westmead Feelings Program Research Group.

Mind-Body Team

The Mind-Body Team for Functional Somatic Symptoms (a.k.a Mind-Body Team) provide a consultation-liaison service to children and young people admitted to our hospital for medical treatment. In addition, they provide multidisciplinary support to children and young people with complex somatic symptoms. They primarily see young people through their Mind-Body Rehabilitation program – a two-week inpatient admission.

The team may also provide—dependent on capacity—clinical supervision to community mental health teams and private clinicians managing complex cases. Please contact the department for more information.

Referrals to the Mind-Body team are considered from staff specialists within the Children’s Hospital at Westmead. Please see the ‘Referral Information’ section for more information

Eating Disorders Team

The Eating Disorders service is provided in collaboration with the Department of Adolescent Medicine.

It provides inpatient, outpatient and day program services across the Sydney Children’s Hospital Network.

Referral information 

Who we see

The Department of Psychological Medicine is a tertiary referral service. We primarily see children and young people up to the age of 16 years who are:

  • Admitted to Hall Ward, our acute mental health unit
  • Admitted to the medical wards of The Children’s Hospital at Westmead
  • Receiving specialist outpatient care from another department within The Children’s Hospital at Westmead
  • Receiving emergency care at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead Emergency Department
  • Referred by rural NSW Health child mental health clinicians for consultation through the Child and Adolescent Psychological Telemedicine Outreach Service (CAPTOS)

Psychological Medicine is unable to accept referrals for children and young people from the general community, or from another health facility. If a child or young person is seen by Psychological Medicine during a presentation to our Emergency Department, this does not constitute eligibility to, or ongoing care by, our service.

To make a referral

We accept referrals from medical and surgical specialists within The Children’s Hospital at Westmead who have an ongoing relationship with the patient.

The make a referral to the Department of Psychological Medicine:

  • For current inpatients – contact reception on (02) 9845 2005
  • For outpatients – check referral criteria for eligibility and contact the Outpatients Intake Officer on (02) 9845 2005 or email SCHN-CHW-PsychmedIntake@health.nsw.gov.au
  • Requests for admission to our Acute Mental Health Unit, Hall Ward, is managed by the Ward. Please contact them on (02) 9845 1112 to discuss. See Acute Mental Health Unit information.
  • Requests for admission to the Eating Disorders program is managed by the team. Please contact them on (02) 9845 2446 to discuss.

If the referral meets the Department’s criteria and is accepted, a clinician will be allocated. In instances where the referral is not accepted, the referrer will be provided feedback that includes alternative referral options.

If you don't receive a response from the Department within four weeks, please contact the department to ensure your referral was received.

Psychological Medicine Referrals Brochure

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