Assessment

There are a number of treatments and interventions that can help when someone is experiencing a first episode of Psychosis. To help you and us decide which treatments might be most suitable we offer a comprehensive initial assessment.

The assessment is carried out by members of the EI team at a place and time that is convenient to you. This might be in your own home, your GP’s surgery, one of the local mental health centres or a school or youth centre.

The main part of the assessment is a structured interview which looks at what sorts of problems you are experiencing. The interview will cover areas such as previous personal and medical history, current problems, family history of mental health problems and what your thinking, feelings and behaviour have been like.

It can be helpful to know what you were like before so we also like to meet up with family members or a friend who might be able to describe what they have noticed has changed. This can either be done at the first meeting or can be at a later time.

Initial assessment

The initial assessment may take place over 3 or 4 appointments. On completion, the results are then discussed with you and together we can plan what are the best interventions to meet your particular needs. We will also write to your GP to keep him/her informed. You can have copies of any letters if you wish. If after the initial assessment we feel that your needs would be best met by another service we will refer or signpost you to the appropriate people.

Ongoing assessment

Ongoing assessment is used to: support with monitoring progress, identify blocks to progress, plan treatment and evaluate outcomes of the treatment. This is likely to happen in a number of ways including:

• Regular review meetings with professionals to discuss your progress
• Structured measures of symptoms and functioning