Anna Freud Centre

Updated 23 February 2026

We carried out a comprehensive assessment of the Anna Freud Centre.

We inspected this service as part of our ongoing comprehensive mental health inspection programme.

The centre provides a specialist community mental health service for children and young people. At our last assessment of this service at a previous location, we rated the service as good.

At this assessment, we identified several areas of good practice in the service.

This is the first assessment of the service at this current location

Our rating of the service has remained Good.

Updated 19 February 2026

We carried out a comprehensive assessment of the Anna Freud Centre.
We inspected this service as part of our ongoing comprehensive mental health inspection programme.
The centre provides a specialist community mental health service for children and young people. At our last assessment of this service at a previous location, we rated the service as good.
At this assessment, we identified several areas of good practice in the service.
This is the first assessment of the service at this current location
Our rating of the service has remained Good.

We rated the service as Good because:
Staff demonstrated a strong commitment to compassionate, person-centred care that reflected the needs and preferences of children, young people and their families. There was effective multidisciplinary collaboration, with professionals working closely together to deliver coordinated therapeutic care and support, alongside strong engagement with schools, social care and voluntary sector partners to promote early intervention and continuity of care. Staff used evidence-based approaches and showed a clear understanding of safeguarding responsibilities and risk management, while leaders fostered a positive culture of learning and improvement through regular supervision and reflective practice to support staff development and wellbeing.

The service operates several divisions to deliver a comprehensive and specialised offer for children, young people and their families. This includes the Schools and Colleges Early Support Service (SCESS), which provides targeted mental health support within education settings, and the clinical division, which comprises Psychodynamic Psychotherapy, Family Stories, Reflective Parenting (psychoeducational groups), Specialist Assessment and Treatment, and the Post-Adoption Service. Together, these services ensure that children, young people and families can access a broad range of therapeutic, assessment and support pathways tailored to their needs.
The newly established multidisciplinary team (MDT), developed as part of the clinical division restructure, has been working well and is already demonstrating positive impact. It was designed to improve efficiency, increase access for children, young people and families, and strengthen collaboration both within and across divisions, supporting the organisation’s broader strategic aims and enabling the service to respond effectively to current and future challenges.

Together, these developments meant the service was well positioned to deliver coordinated, accessible and high-quality care, resulting in improved experiences and outcomes for children, young people and their families.

During this assessment, the inspection team:
- Carried out an environmental tour of the building and observed parents, children and young people accessing the service.
- Spoke to 6 parents/carers
- Spoke to a young person ambassador
- Spoke to family representative
- Spoke with 10 members of staff. This included the head of operations, deputies, safeguarding leads, clinical psychologists, senior practitioners, wellbeing practitioners, and the Deputy CEO.
- We attended the MDT meeting with the leadership team, a staff group meeting with frontline clinicians and support staff, a service users and carers’ feedback meeting, which included a family representative.
- We looked at policies and procedures related to the running of the service.
- We looked at audit records, quality improvement initiatives and service outcomes.