Solar is a partnership between Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, Barnardo’s and Autism West Midlands and provides Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health Services to Children, Young People and Families in Solihull.
Accessing Solar
For routine support please complete our referral form, if you wish to discuss this referral please call us during office hours on 0121 301 2750
Children and Young People’s Privacy Notice
For routine support please complete our referral form, if you wish to discuss this referral please call us during office hours on 0121 301 2750
In an emergency
If a child’s mental state gets worse quickly, and you are worried about their safety, it’s important to get help quickly. If a child or young person:
- is an imminent risk to themselves or others due to a deterioration in their mental health
- has active thoughts and plans of suicide with intent
- is severely depressed and in need of crisis assessment and intensive home treatment to prevent admission to hospital
Contact the Solar crisis service who are contactable via 0121 301 2750 (Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm) where you will have access to a trained clinician who will assess whether you need to be seen by our Crisis Team. We will advise you what to do next.
Out of hours the crisis team are available for mental health crisis (weekdays 5pm-8pm, weekends 8am-8pm) via Northcroft switchboard 01213015500 – please ask for the Solar Crisis Team. The operator will take the best contact number and then pass it to the staff member on call and they will call you back as soon as possible.
Call 999 or go to A&E now if:
- Someone’s life is at risk, for example they have serious injuries or have taken an overdose
The right service for you
We want to make sure you get the right service for you. For young people aged over 19, please talk to your GP who can refer you to the right service. For children and young people under the age of 19, but living in Birmingham, please also talk to your GP so they can refer you to the correct service for you.
If you’re over the age of 16 and need support with anxiety, stress, depression or low mood, it might be worth self-referring yourself to Solihull Healthy Minds if you live in Solihull, or Birmingham Healthy Minds if you live in Birmingham.
Meet The Team
The transformation of children and young people’s mental health is led by local areas. This means that children, young people, their families and professionals from across the NHS, public health, local authorities, children social care, education, youth justice and voluntary and community organisations are working together with to design and provide the best possible services.
To support this local leadership and accountability, NHS England asked Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) to work with commissioners and providers across health, social care, education and youth justice and the voluntary sector, to develop Local Transformation Plans for children and young people’s mental health.
These plans set out how local services will invest resources to improve children and young people’s mental health across the “whole system”.
The pandemic has seen the demand for services exceed what is normally expected but these have not been normal times and the demand continues. Children and young people missed so much time been together in education settings, some of our most vulnerable communities were disproportionality affected by the pandemic. The healthy inequities across the health system were seen more starkly in the high numbers of our BAME communities who lost their lives and have suffered a bereavement. The pandemic has also impacted on our workforce and it continues to do. Our workforce has time and time again demonstrated a commitment and passion for the work they do. They have adapted how and when they work, they have developed IT skills to ensure they continue to support our children, young people and their families.
Due to the pandemic we have not been able to undertake the breath of co-production that we would typically do but we will continue to refine and update our plans as are consultation process with children, young and families continues.
Our 21/22 plan is different this year due to the pandemic but we hope that you still see the great work that was and continues to delivered under the most testing of circumstances. Our financial investment in 21/22 will continue to be driven by addressing the gaps in care and addressing inequalities experienced by our communities.
In line with NHS England requirements, we are publishing our Solihull children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing local transformation plan 2021/22
