Liaison and co-operation between paediatrics and mental health

Mental health liaison with paediatrics is vital but often misunderstood. Anxiety about the stigma of a referral to mental health cannot be entirely eradicated. The best antidote to this inevitable tension is to have mental health staff working in the same premises as paediatrics, so that colleagues can get to know and learn from each other. When this is achieved there is a far greater opportunity for enriching the care that children and their families receive in hospitals and clinics, and for promoting liaison more widely. Paediatric liaison is not only for mental health problems.