Sainsbury Centre gets go-ahead for pioneering early intervention training scheme

3 September 2004

The UK's first postgraduate certificate programme in Early Intervention in Psychosis will begin in November this year, it was announced today.

The new programme has been validated by Middlesex University following two successful pilot schemes in 2003.

The programme will help mental health workers to develop and provide support to young people experiencing psychosis for the first time. It offers training in the special skills required of people working in early intervention teams.

Programme lead Kim Johnson said: "Establishing early intervention teams is one of the major targets of the NHS Plan. They can make a huge difference to the lives of young people experiencing a first episode of psychosis, many of whom currently have to wait for more than a year to get the treatment they need.

"But effective early intervention requires staff with a very special set of skills. They need to be able to work specifically with young people and their families. They need to support people to stay in education or work wherever possible. And they need to reach out to other public services to ensure they identify people at risk of psychosis quickly enough to make a difference. Our new training programme aims to provide workers in both primary and secondary health care with the skills to work effectively with young people aged 14-35."