Dear FOI officer,

I should like to request the following information about the commissioned emotional support and crisis services available to people under the age of 18 in Birmingham, which falls within the geographical remit of your organisation.

I would like to find out the following information about support services that you directly fund in Birmingham to people under the age of 18 who are experiencing emotional distress and/or who are at risk of attempting suicide, excluding that delivered through Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services:
• Inclusion/exclusion criteria
• How the service is accessed, i.e. open access, self-referral, third party referral
• Channels of support, e.g. telephone, email, text, webchat, face-to-face, and types of location if face-to-face
• Opening hours/availability
• Type of support provided, i.e. structured therapeutic counselling, peer support, helpline
• If support is provided to parents or carers
• Length of support offered
• If the support is provided by paid employees, freelance/contract staff, volunteers.
• Intended outcomes for the service
• If available, the number of people under 18 that can be supported i) at any one time and/or ii) in any given twelve month period
• Where relevant, number of people under 18 that have been referred to the service in the most recent reporting period (quarter or year)
• Number of people under 18 supported in the most recent reporting period (quarter or year)

For each service, I would also like to request a copy of their:
• Safeguarding policy
• Confidentiality policy
• Policy statement in relation to capacity, decision making and choice

I should prefer to receive these in electronic format at this email address, however, I am happy to receive them by post if that is more convenient.

It would be helpful if you were to provide any brief notes which might be necessary to understand the context of the information provided, although I recognise that you are not obliged to do this. If for any reason you feel this request is unclear, please do not hesitate to contact me on 07866 105 093. If you are not the appropriate authority for this request, or for part of it, please let me know as soon as is convenient.

If the information requested contains sections of confidential information, please blank out or remove these sections, and mark clearly that they have been removed.
Thank you for your help.
Kind regards,

Jennifer Holly