Insight team (early intervention in psychosis)
Page last updated on:
About the service
The Wakefield insight team is one of four early intervention in psychosis teams at South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. We offer a service to anyone from the age of 14 to 35 who lives in Wakefield and is registered with a Wakefield district GP. Individuals will be experiencing psychosis or thought to be at risk of this developing.
Our aim is to improve the long-term outcomes for people experiencing psychosis. By detecting the early signs of psychosis we are able to provide quality support to the individual and those close to them.
Why would someone choose the service?
We offer a recovery focussed approach to support service users and those close to them through the potentially traumatic experience of psychosis. We support all those affected to maintain hope for the future.
Our practice is guided by national guidance which means that we strive to offer talking therapies as well as any medical interventions.
This might involve meeting with the individual or meeting their family to support them and help them to understand what is happening and how they might help.
We have a strong focus on helping people build their confidence to maintain and build on social, educational and employment opportunities, and do this through social, creative and sporting groups. This can include actively supporting people to attend employment or education, or supporting them to arrange volunteer placements.
We have a clear commitment to look after a person’s physical health as well as their mental health and work closely with our GP colleagues to achieve this.
Feedback from people who have used the Wakefield insight team and their families can be found in our booklet of service user and carer stories called ‘Powerful Minds’.
As part of the team’s wish to continually improve, we regularly audit our services to help us understand how we are best helping people referred to our team. We also invite feedback and comments from everyone using our team.
Staff you may meet
- Administrative staff provide essential support to doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals. This can be in a variety of different settings, with administrators working as a receptionist in a clinic or a clerk on a ward. They may also be working closely with a consultant as a medical secretary.
- There are more than 60 different specialities that doctors work within the NHS. Each is unique but there are many characteristics which are common. Roles range from working in a hospital to being based in the community as a GP.
- There are many people who work behind the scenes to keep services running and you may meet them in hospital or community settings. They include porters, cleaners, plumbers, electricians, decorators receptionists and secretaries who all work to make sure healthcare settings are kept clean, tidy and safe.
- The NHS employs a wide range of clinical staff, it wouldn’t be possible to list them all on this website! All our clinical staff are skilled, dedicated professionals who adhere to high standards of training and work-place practice.
- Social workers help, support and protect people who are facing difficulties in their lives. They help people to take positive steps to overcome problems and improve their lives. This could involve assessing and reviewing a service user’s situation, building relationships with service users and their families and agreeing what practical support someone needs.
Why a professional should choose the service
Early intervention in psychosis has become established as a preferred model of service for young people with
emerging psychosis and their families.
All non-urgent referrals for assessment are seen within 14 days meeting the regional CQUIN indicator 2.
The majority of our care coordinators are trained to degree level or above. Those working with individuals experiencing psychosis and their families have continued their professional development over and above their professional qualification. We use evidence-based tools and interventions to enhance the support we offer to service users and their families.
Staff are trained to provide behavioural family therapy, in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance and are trained to work in a cognitive behavioural approach with people accessing the team.
As well as offering individual family support, we offer monthly family and friends support. This is in a group setting and enables people to gain information as well as meet others who care for people having similar experiences.
The team also has a strong commitment to screening and intervening around physical health problems, as per CQUIN indicator 3.1.
We are committed to working with service users collaboratively and work in partnership with our service users in the planning and implementation of social activities. We currently run a wide range of groups, including an art group, football group and gym group which all run on a weekly basis. We also run regular social activities including pool tournaments, visits to Alton Towers, climbing and walking groups. We encourage the users of our service to make suggestions for things they would like to do or take part in.
The team has developed and published a recovery focused booklet called ‘Powerful Minds’ which has been placed in GP surgeries, other Trust services, schools, colleges and third sector providers.
We are aligning our audit of the impact of our services with national and regional best practice, and are supported by a volunteer assistant psychologist to undertake this.
Support offered
A wide range of support and interventions are offered by the team. They include:
- A range of specialist assessments – assessments used by the service includes the Comprehensive Assessment of at Risk Mental State (CAARMS), Recovery Star and the Psychotic Symptom Rating Scale (PSYRATS).
- Allocation of an individual care coordinator – working under the Care Programme Approach (a specific way in which a person’s care, support and treatment are arranged) our staff work alongside partner organisations, including housing, substance misuse and probation services to provide the best possible support. We also work alongside individuals to plan for the time when they are discharged from our service including any plans to refer them to another service or team.
- Psychological interventions – the team carry out individual psychological interventions around the person’s psychotic experiences or accompanying anxiety or depression.
- Medical interventions – our expert team of psychiatrists review an individual’s mental health needs where appropriate and advise on any subsequent need for prescribed medication. Throughout an individual’s treatment, we will closely monitor their physical health and help to improve it where possible.
- Social interventions – we try to make sure that everyone who uses our services is fully engaged in social environments. We actively encourage people to attend social, recreational and activity groups. By building an individual’s confidence we are able to help them towards education or employment.
We also recognise that family and friends are a vital support network for service users and we support them throughout their loved ones care through our family and friends group.
Outcomes
The ultimate aim of the early intervention service is to reduce the duration of untreated psychosis and improve the long-term outcome of psychosis. The evidence reflected in research consistently highlights that the earlier psychosis is treated, the better the prognosis.
We aim to:
- Improve the detection and management of early psychosis in primary (GP services) and secondary (hospital setting) care.
- Reduce delays in assessment and treatment. This minimises any potential disability resulting from the illness and enhances the chance for immediate and long-term recovery.
- Improve outcomes for young people and adults with early psychosis, their families or carers.
- Provide effective evidence-based and phase-specific interventions.
- Ensure that care is transferred smoothly and effectively at the end of a treatment period.
Referrals accepted from:
A & E, AHPs, Carers/family, CMHTs, Consultants, Courts, Drug/alcohol agencies, GP staff, GPs, Health visitors, Hospital staff, Housing associations, Local authority staff, Midwives, Other NHS services, Other Trust services, Patients(self-referral), Police, Schools, Voluntary services, Youth centres, Youth Offending Team
Referral criteria:
The early intervention team is a youth-focused service. We are commissioned to provide a service for people aged between 14 and 35 years of age who are experiencing their first episode of psychosis or thought to be at a potential of risk of developing this. Where a person is over 35 years of age we are happy to discuss with the referrer on an individual basis if the person would benefit from a youth-focused service.
For individuals to be eligible for referral to our service the duration of their untreated psychosis should be less than three years. However, we are happy to discuss this on an individual basis.
Where a person has psychotic experiences only when under the influence of substances they would not benefit from our service. Where psychotic experiences persist we would be happy to consider this person for a period of extended assessment.
We are happy to consider partnership working with other services where an individual’s primary problem may not be psychosis.
The team do not accept referrals where an individual:
- has an organic psychosis, including acquired head injury, dementia, epilepsy, and organic alcohol encephalopathies (a psychosis directly related to a physical health condition)
- has had significant input from mental health services for a psychotic presentation and would no longer benefit from an early intervention approach
- has predominantly forensic issues (contact with the justice system) where they may receive more appropriate support from specialist forensic or other mental health teams
- where someone only has psychotic experiences associated with low mood