1.

Recognise support agencies available

to individuals and their families.

1.1. Identify the different agencies which

offer advice on mental health matters
and evaluate their accessibility and
range of services available.

Assignment Title/Briefing: Mental Health Services

Identify the different agencies which offer advice on mental health matters and evaluate their
accessibility and range of services available. Produce a series of help sheets/factsheets,
covering specific and general mental health advice and services.

This assignment will work better if you work in groups (you don't have too, but it is advised)
You will need to produce some factsheets/ help sheets on different mental health services.
Ideally I would like 2 that covers general mental health and 3/4 that target specific mental
illnesses.
You will need to evaluate how accessible the advice/service is.

What is Psychosis?
The symptoms of psychosis vary a lot between individuals and not everyone will experience those
that we have listed.
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HALLUCINATIONS Unusual or strange experiences (eg) Hearing, smelling and/ or seeing

things that other people do not.
DELUSIONS include: thinking people are conspiring against you, that you have special
powers or skills OR that people on TV or radio are talking to or about you.
Distressing Thoughts & Beliefs e.g. you may believe that someone is following you, watching
you or listening to your conversations.
EXPERIENCE OF EXTERNAL CONTROL - You may feel that a force or person outside you
is interfering with your thoughts, body or actions.
THOUGHT DISORDER - your thoughts maybe very jumbled and confused, and you cannot
hold a clear train of thought.
You may become suspicious and hostile.
Change in behaviour, may become withdrawn and communicate less.
Mood swings and increased anxiety or low mood.
Loss of energy and feeling withdrawn.
The symptoms of psychosis vary a lot between individuals and not everyone will experience
those that we have listed.

Getting help
Getting help and making a referral

The Early Intervention in Psychosis Service provides specialist treatment and care for people between
14-35 years who have signs of psychosis.

We work closely with families and friends to help them support you and help them to understand
psychosis.
We will be here to offer ongoing treatment and care to support your recovery for up to three years.

Referrals
We take referrals from all sources including family and friends, GPs, social workers and teachers.
If you are concerned about yourself or someone else please call us for an informal chat about how we
can help.
You can call us yourself or talk to your doctor, family or teacher and they can then contact our team on
the numbers below.
Our office hours are: Monday - Friday between 9am and 5pm.
If you need help outside of the EIIP teams office hours,

please find contact details here.

West Surrey and North East Hampshire & Surrey Heath

Main base:
First Floor,
The Base,
St Peters Hospital,
Guildford Road,
Chertsey KT16 0PZ
Tel: 01932 723343
Satellite base
Aldershot Centre for Health,
Hospital Hill,
Aldershot GU11 1AY
Tel: 01932 723343

East and Mid Surrey

Farmside
West Park
Epsom KT19 8PB
Tel: 01372 206262

Out of hours
If you need help outside of the EIIP teams office hours,

please find contact details here.

What now?
We will meet you with a view to get to start to know you and your experiences. This is so that we can
jointly try to make sense of your experiences. The assessment will in turn provide an opportunity for
us to discuss things that may be helpful for dealing with your experiences.
After we have concluded your initial assessment there are a number of possible outcomes:
1. We, alongside you and any family members/friends, might agree that your experiences are
strongly suggestive of psychosis and offer you three years of Early Intervention in Psychosis
service.
o You may need a combination of Medication and Therapy and may have to try out
several types of medications in order find the one that suits you best.
o You may also benefit from talking therapy. You can choose to have your therapy on a
one to one basis or with your family the key thing to remember is that whilst we will
offer advice, the choice will be yours.
o For further information about Therapies and Medication please click onto the relevant
section
2. If it does not appear that you are experiencing or at high risk of developing psychosis, we will
discuss options with you including:
o A referral to CAMHS (Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services)
o A referral to your local CMHRS (Community Mental Health Team). These are services
for people with other mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, personality
difficulties etc rather than psychosis.
o Or you may decide that you want to seek counseling from your local GP or local
Increasing Access To Psychological Therapies (IAPT) service.

Recovery
Recovery does not mean cure, it is helping someone to live as full a life as possible despite their
illness... Hearing Voices Network, 2008

Getting better
With the help of our service we hope that you start to see signs that you are recovering such as
voices and paranoid thoughts reducing and becoming more able to cope with daily life.

Getting back on track

It is a good idea to start making plans for how you will get your life back on track and what support is
needed with this. Your care co-ordinator can help you make a plan about what you want to get from
your life and the best services to access to get this help. They can help you identify ways to help you
cope with any symptoms and difficulties you have.

Getting active and avoiding stress

Its very good to be active and to start seeing friends again but you need to strike a balance. Its often
a good idea to build up how much you are doing gradually, making sure you still have time to relax as
well as being active.
Its often a good idea to build up how much you are doing gradually, making sure you still have plenty
of time for just relaxing. Avoid drugs and alcohol.

Preventing relapse
Some people only ever have one episode of psychosis, but some may experience a relapse.
Therefore it is important to make a plan that helps to prevent you becoming unwell again or to
minimise the severity of any relapse you do experience. This will probably include agreeing on what
needs to be done if certain stresses or symptoms become evident. We strongly recommend you avoid
drugs and alcohol.

Employment and Volunteering

Returning to structured activity such as work is often an important part of recovery. We offer support in
finding either paid or voluntary work. We also have access to numerous community services, for
example Richmond Fellowship, which can provide additional careers advice and help with writing
CVs etc.

Social Groups
You may find that after a period of illness it is difficult to resume your normal social activities. We run a
weekly social group which provides a safe and welcoming environment to meet new people; many of
whom have similar experiences. The social group also provides an opportunity to get involved in
different activities, for example mountain biking, badminton, bowling.

hat helps?
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GET HELP EARLY - This will help you to recover more quickly.
Remember to take your medication.
Attend appointments with the Early Intervention Team.
Meet and talk to others who have experienced a psychosis.
Talk to people you trust about your worries.
Get support from family and friends
Find out as much as you can about your psychosis, the Early Intervention Team will be able to
provide you with information or visit our links page for other websites.
Investigate ways to manage your stress. Find out what causes your stress and work out how
to deal with it or avoid stressful situations.
Find time in the day to relax and so something that you enjoy to take your mind off things that
cause you to worry.
Attempt activities, jobs and training that you enjoy and value.

Keep physically well, following a good diet by cutting down on takeaways and fried food and
eating of fruit and vegetables every day, and take regular exercise.

Remember these are just a few general tips. Everyone who develops a psychosis will find many
things that are helpful and unhelpful and should look to develop lists of their own.

What doesn't help?

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Putting yourself under more stress than you need to

Isolating yourself, avoiding friends and not talking to others
Getting involved in negative relationships where there is a lot of negative comments and
criticism
Using too much alcohol and using drugs such as speed, LSD, ecstasy, cocaine and cannabis
that can delay recovery and encourage relapse in psychosis

Remember these are just a few general tips. Everyone who develops a psychosis will find many
things that are helpful and unhelpful and should look to develop lists of their own.

What causes Psychosis?

The causes of psychosis are still not fully understood and it is likely that there are a number of
reasons why people develop psychosis including:
Times of extreme stress such as relationship difficulties, families splitting up, parents arguing, exams
or unemployment.
There is a strong relationship between use of drugs such as cannabis, speed and
cocaine and the development of psychotic symptoms.
When people dont have enough sleep they can begin to see things differently and can experience
psychotic symptoms e.g. they may hear voices when no one is there.
For a few people, psychosis is the result of an underlying medical illness, usually one
involving the brain and nervous system.