Finding the Best Care

Abstract

In many places around the world, there are specialty clinics that are devoted to people in the early stages of psychosis. These are sometimes called early intervention services or coordinated specialty care programs. Specialty programs usually do a full evaluation of the young person and provide ongoing medication management as well as psychosocial treatments. Many specialty programs for early psychosis also offer group meetings just for young people who have recently been diagnosed with psychosis, as well as group meetings for families of these young people. Specialty programs for early psychosis focus on recovery, shared decision-making, and individuals’ life goals. These programs also provide outreach to the community to aid in earlier detection that will hopefully reduce delays to getting into care. In some places, specialized clinics and treatment programs have been developed to try to identify and help young people who may be about to develop psychosis, before the psychosis begins. Such programs provide treatments and services to people who appear to be at elevated risk for developing psychosis.