Early Intervention Services in Manchester

The Early Intervention Service was established in 2006 to support people experiencing a first episode of psychosis. We also provide support to the families of people who are using the service.

The service is made up of four teams working across Bolton, Salford, Manchester and Trafford, and forms part of Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (GMMH). There are a range of professionals working across the three teams, including nurses, STaR workers, psychologists, occupational therapists, psychiatrists and social workers.

The purpose of early intervention is to improve outcomes for people and their families. The Early Intervention Service aims to address problems at the earliest opportunity to reduce the impact on a person’s quality of life.The service provides a range of evidence based interventions designed to help people manage the effects of psychosis and continue with their lives.

What is psychosis?

Psychosis affects three in every 100 people, so it is very common. When people talk about ‘psychosis’, they are usually referring to losing touch with reality in some way. For example, many people will report some of the following experiences:

• Feeling as though thoughts are not under their control
• Seeing, hearing or feeling things others cannot
• Feeling suspicious or paranoid
• Holding beliefs that others find unusual or difficult to understand

People may also notice changes in the way they feel and behave, such as:

• Not wanting to see family or friends
• Having problems concentrating
• Feeling uneasy and confused

What we do

The focus of the service is on ensuring that the needs of the service user come first. Each person will be encouraged to think about what ‘recovery’ means for them and what help they need to work towards this. Working in partnership with the person and their family, the service will offer support to help them to work towards their unique recovery goals.

Services we offer

Included in the range of services we offer for people with experience of psychosis-related difficulties are:

• Access to a range of 'talking therapies', including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
• Support for familes and carers
• A range of social, leisure and therapeutic groups
• Access to medication and support with managing medication
• Support and advice about housing and benefits
• Support in getting back to school, college, university and work
• Support to establish social and leisure activities that are important to you

What happens if I contact the Early Intervention Service?

When someone is referred to the Early Intervention Service, to help them feel as comfortable as possible, we offer to meet them in a setting of their choice. This could be at a GP surgery, a community centre or another venue. We would encourage people to bring someone they trust to their first appointment if this is helpful.

We then complete an assessment to see if the Early Intervention Service is the best option for that person. If it is, we will then work with the person to find out what their goals are and what support they will need to work towards them.

If Early Intervention isn’t the right service for you, we will make sure that we put you in touch with services that are able to provide the kind of support you need.
The team normally works with people for up to three years. When someone is nearing the end of their time with Early Intervention, the team will review the person’s ongoing support needs and discuss the best way for these to be met.