Early intervention in psychosis - patient and carer information
Early Intervention Team
Early Intervention in Psychosis Teams were set up because of overwhelming evidence to show that the earlier we intervene when someone experiences psychosis, the sooner and easier is their recovery.
Our Early Intervention Team is able to offer you the range of services that are recommended by NICE, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. NICE guidelines recommend the kinds of evidence-based interventions our team ought to be able to offer their patients.
NICE Guidelines can be accessed for adults and for children and young people.
One of the most important things that your care co-ordinator will do is to help you to understand your illness. There are lots of aspects to this. For example:
- What causes psychosis?
- Why do some people get psychosis, and some don’t?
- What things make psychosis worse / better for you?
- How does medication work?
- Will I get better and what will my recovery look like?
- What about hospital?
This is only a selection of questions that you may have for your care co-ordinator. Your care co-ordinator and other members of the team will try to help you understand the problems you are encountering and how to alleviate some of them. We use the ‘Recovery Model’ which is a model of support that helps you to move forward and achieve your goals to the best of your abilities.
West Cheshire Early Intervention Team
Cherrybank Resource Centre, 85 Wellington Road, Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, CH65 0BY
Telephone: 0151 488 8381
East Cheshire Early Intervention Team
Vale House Resource Centre, High street, Winsford, Cheshire, CW7 2AS
Telephone: 01606 555 275
Wirral Early Intervention Team
Stein Centre, St Catherine’s Hospital, Derby Road, Birkenhead, Wirral, CH42 0LQ
Telephone: 0151 488 8213
The teams are available from 9am until 5pm, Monday to Friday (not including bank holidays).
Medication
Not all of our patients will be prescribed medication but if you are then it is important that you understand your medication, why you are being offered it and what it is likely to do.
Medication can have real benefits, but some medications can also have side effects that are either brief on starting or more long term. We need to make sure you are taking medications that are beneficial to you and we are responsive to your feedback on how it makes you feel.
You should have written information about your medication should you want it. If you haven’t been given written information, please ask your Care Coordinator who will be able to pass some to you as well as provide some advice and information face-to-face. Medication can be an important part of your care and treatment. You should ask your care coordinator about anything that concerns you about your medication.
Your care co-ordinator and other members of the team will ask you regularly about your medication, its effects and whether you are taking it regularly. We are keen that you are able to provide honest feedback as we need to make sure we are getting things right for you.
You may also like to speak to a doctor or nurse-prescriber if you would like a more in-depth discussion about your medication and its effects. Your care coordinator can arrange this.
In order for you to consent to treatment we must make sure you have the capacity to do so. This means we must check that you are aware of the above and that with any treatment, you understand its purpose and the effects it may have, both good and bad. You can weigh up this information for yourself and make an independent choice.
CWP also has a website for patients to be able to find out more information about medications that they may be offered.
GPs may be informed (with consent) should there be a requirement for further investigations following these tests. Advice will be offered on living a healthy lifestyle and information is also available online via the NHS website.
Lifestyle
It is important that we help you with your general wellbeing by talking to you about your lifestyle choices and by offering ways to make different choices. Therefore your care co-ordinator will talk to you about things such as whether you drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes or use any other substances that can impact on your health. They will also ask about diet, exercise and other aspects of lifestyle. As part of our assessment we will ask you questions and hopefully be able to provide some good advice.
We are non-judgemental in our approach and your lifestyle choices will not impact on the service we provide. However, it is possible that these choices may have a negative impact on some of the treatments we offer you. The treatments may not work or, at worse, may interact and cause adverse side effects.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
Using our service entitles you to have an assessment to explore whether you could be helped by Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). You will be offered an appointment with our psychologist to help you decide whether CBT is a good idea for you. This is something you can revisit later during your time with the early intervention team.
CBT is delivered on a one-to one basis. During the sessions you will work with the therapist to try to understand the connections between your thoughts, feelings and actions and the problems that you are facing now. Sometimes the therapist may also work with you to understand how your thoughts and feelings are linked with problems you have faced in the past.
The therapist will help you to understand your thoughts and feelings better and to help you to find other ways of coping with the things that distress you most. The purpose of the sessions is to help you to get better at doing the things you most want to do whether this is recreational, educational or vocational.
Education and employment
Our team has good links with local schools and colleges, and we also have close connections with skilled workers who are employment specialists. We can provide support for you to meet with college staff and to fill in application forms for courses.
We can also help you by helping you to think about whether school, college or university is a good choice for you. We will explore and consider what type of things you would most benefit from studying. We can then look at what barriers there may be to you commencing your chosen pathway.
We can refer you to the relevant employment specialist who can help you get into work and to continue in employment once you have a job. There are lots of ways that we can support you e.g. helping you to find voluntary work or by helping your employer understand your particular needs. Our aims are to assist you to gain meaningful occupation but to also maintain this.
We have support workers who can help with some of the practical elements such as form filling or helping you to attend initial appointments.
Family support
We often find that families struggle to understand how a mental health problem impacts on a how a person sees the world around them , causes someone to behave in a way that makes them worry or have views that are very different and sometimes conflicting to their own. This can lead to emotional upset and tension within the family. The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) recommends that Family Support and Education is offered to 100% of those who are suffering a psychotic illness.
The Early Intervention Team has team members who are trained in evidence-based Family Interventions, that have proven to be really effective in helping families to gain better understanding of their loved one’s experiences, how it can affect their interaction with others, and how it can cause them to interpret things very differently to the next person.
Family support sessions are a practical, skills-based intervention that are delivered over a number of agreed sessions, depending on identified needs . They promote positive communication, problem solving skills and stress management within the family.
The aim is to address the needs of all family members, and each family member is encouraged to identify and work towards clear personal goals. Most families already do a great job in caring, it is hoped that with this support, families can develop stronger relationships and positively influence recovery.