What is ‘crisis’?: A review of how ‘crisis’ is conceptualised in Children’s Social and Mental Health Services in the UK

Nevill, Emily Ann, Coughlan, Barry, Duschinsky, Robbie and Hayes, Beatrice (2025) What is ‘crisis’?: A review of how ‘crisis’ is conceptualised in Children’s Social and Mental Health Services in the UK. SSRN.

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Abstract

In the UK, ‘crisis’ is commonly used within Children’s Social and Mental Health Services, however its conceptualisation is inconsistent. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review of UK literature to explore how literature focused on these services use ‘crisis’ with children and families perceived as not coping. From our full-text analysis of k = 24 records, we found 11 key summative interpretations. Whilst we found no explicit definition, ‘Crisis’ was generally associated with acute, complex, higher-risk cases requiring higher-level intervention. However, we also found ‘crisis’ lacked standardisation in conceptualisation, linguistic use and operationalisation within and between Children’s Social Care (CSC) and Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). Despite this, problematically, we also concluded ‘crisis’ is operationalised as a threshold for intervention which is reinforced by top down (e.g., funding) and bottom up (e.g., public perception) factors. Therefore, use of ‘crisis’ may be encouraging children and their families receiving varied support and the movement away from early/preventative care. Our findings should therefore be considered within larger issues within service funding and capabilities, early intervention ‘erosion’ and public understanding of services. Further research should be conducted to understand clinical conceptualisation and operationalisation of ‘crisis’. Academic discussions should also be conducted that focus on standardising the definition and use of ‘crisis’, and on the concerns with having crisis-orientated services.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Children; United Kingdom; social care; Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS); Crisis; Coping; Early Intervention
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > Psychology H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman > Children R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA790 Mental Health K Law > KDK Republic of Ireland > Social legislation > Public welfare. Public assistance. Poor laws > Social work. Social workers. Social services
Divisions:	School of Business and Social Sciences > Staff Research and Publications
Depositing User:	Tamara Malone
Date Deposited:	26 Feb 2026 16:36
Last Modified:	27 Feb 2026 10:22
URI:	https://norma.ncirl.ie/id/eprint/9165

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