Please see the CNEST Frequently Asked Questions below, the FAQs include the following topics:   

  1. Self-neglect 
  2. Neurodevelopmental conditions
  3. Admission to hospital for mental health difficulties
  4. Family or Placement Stability
  5. Concerns about the level of engagement with the multi-agency plan of care
  6. Difficulties accessing education, training or employment
  7. The young person is being supported by Local Authority Social Care Services
  8. Stressful life event

Harm to self

This will depend on the primary reason for reduced/not eating e.g. are they not eating due to wanting to end their life or due to eating cognitions.

Neurodevelopmental conditions

Yes

Suspected’ refers to any concerns based on observed traits or behaviours that may indicate a neurodevelopmental condition (e.g., Autism, ADHD, Intellectual Disability and Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder), even if there is no formal diagnosis or prior mention by others. If you, as a practitioner, parent/carer, observe relevant traits, you should select ‘Yes’ and assign a score of 2.

This ensures the young person’s potential needs are recognised and addressed in care planning.

Admission to hospital for mental health difficulties

Yes, a young person admitted for the first time following an overdose should be scored in both Question 1 (Harm to self) and Question 5 (Admission to hospital for mental health difficulties). ​

Item 1 (Harm to Self) considers the current risk based on recent self-harming behaviour.​

Item 5 (Admission to hospital for mental health difficulties) includes any admission for mental health difficulties, even if it is the young person’s first admission.

Family or Placement Stability

Yes.

You would usually score 3 when the primary support system is saying they can’t accept this young person back to their placement/home due to concern for maintaining their safety e.g. the young person remains in the emergency department/ward despite an understanding that the young person could be supported with an agreed care plan at placement/home.

Concerns about the level of engagement with the multi-agency plan of care

This item applies to young people with a multiagency care plan where there are concerns about engagement. A ‘Yes’ score is appropriate when the young person, parent/carer, or family is not engaging with agreed interventions (e.g., CYPMHS, social care, education, youth justice).​

Not attending school alone does not automatically meet the threshold for a ‘Yes’ score unless it is part of a broader multiagency plan that includes strategies to support engagement​

If school non-attendance is the only concern, it may be better captured under Item 8 (The young person is unable to access education due to current difficulties).

Difficulties accessing education, training or employment

You would only score yes if the young person were not attending education as per their agreed plan i.e. if it is agreed that they are to attend two days a week and they are doing so then you would score a NO. If they are due to attend two days a week but they are not due to their mental health difficulties, then score yes.

The young person is being supported by Local Authority Social Care Services

NO The CNEST is a dynamic tool that provides oversight to the current level of unmet need. The young person may have had unmet needs that following social care involvement have now been addressed. If the young person is currently open to social care this suggests that they have unmet needs.

Stressful life event

Would be dependent on how the young person or their primary support network/professionals identify stressful life event is impacting on them now.