Early Psychosis Care

Missouri’s Early Psychosis Care center is bringing to the forefront the importance of early identification and intervention as critical steps in reducing the impact of psychosis on affected individuals, their families, and the community. Through educational opportunities and outreach EPC raises awareness state-wide about best practices, current trends in research, offers learning collaboratives, and implements new strategies, research, and trends into practice.

IDENTIFY | TREAT | RECOVER

mother sitting with her son with her hand on his shoulder

First Episode Psychosis (FEP) can affect individuals of any age, gender, race, or cultural background. Psychosis is a cluster of symptoms affecting the way a person thinks, feels, and behaves. These symptoms make it difficult or impossible for a person to know what is real, to think clearly, to communicate, and to relate to others.

A first episode usually presents as a crisis for the individual experiencing the event and their family.

OPPORTUNITIES TO LEARN

Join Early Psychosis Care Missouri at events and trainings coming soon.

March Summit & Dinner

Sunday, March 19, 2023
6 pm - 9 pm

First Episode Psychosis (FEP) Summit

The FEP Summit, in partnership with the CIT Conference Leadership Forum, will offer information and education in partnership with law enforcement, first responders, and behavioral health partners to improve community responses to mental health crises. This provides a forum for effective community outreach to spread the message about FEP, with an emphasis on early identification to shorten the duration of untreated psychosis, creating the context for sustainable change.


Goals: reduce stigma, explore the need for continued involvement with the criminal justice system.

April Conference

April 12-13, 2023

Early Psychosis Care Conference

We invite those with an interest in and commitment to early psychosis care to join us for Early Psychosis Care Conference 2023. Designed for professionals and practitioners treating early psychosis, those with lived experience, family members, researchers, and students, Missouri’s Early Psychosis Care Conference offers educational opportunities in early psychosis research and treatment. Drawing from current research and evidence-based practices, conference themes include but are not limited to, the voice of lived experience and peer specialist; diversity, equity, and inclusion; assessment, identification, and treatment. Missouri’s Early Psychosis Care Conference offers a forum in which to learn about best practices, current trends in research, network with peers, and implement new strategies, research, and trends into practice.

Objectives:

  1. Describe Early Psychosis Care (EPC) including signs, symptoms and response
  2. Discuss stigma associated with EPC and how to lessen its negative impact
  3. Examine current early psychosis research
  4. Review evidence-based practices for EPC assessment, identification and treatment
  5. Reflect on individual stories of EPC lived experience and examine how your role as a professional, family member, researcher and/or peer may be able to offer support and hope

May Spring Training

May 25, 2023

First Episode Psychosis (FEP) Spring Training

The Missouri Department of Mental Health provides the Spring Training Institute for staff, providers and consumers of the Division of Behavioral Health and the Division of Developmental Disabilities. Additionally, the Institute attracts staff from the Department of Corrections, Department of Youth Services, Department of Family Services, other statewide organizations and individuals in private practice. The Institute brings over 1,000 behavioral health professionals together to learn about the latest research in the field regarding medications, evidence-based treatment, and other issues related to the populations served. There are two full days of presentations and workshops with over 60 separate sessions that will broaden knowledge and enhance the understanding of the critical services provided to the citizens of Missouri.

Topics:

  • Screening and Diagnosis
  • What is not psychosis?
  • Prevalence of Psychosis Spectrum disorders in Missouri

Psychosis 101 Training

May 25, 2023
9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. PST
11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. CST

Consultants: Grace Lee, Ph.D., Jenae Richardson, Psy.D., Shannon Pagdon

Description: Provide 1.5 hours virtual training that will include a screener and discussion of the screening process. Assist providers in learning how to talk to clients and families about possible psychosis symptoms as well as understand the importance of early intervention and treatment. Provide a brief overview of diagnostic criteria, describe the threshold for attenuated versus full psychosis, and discuss role of culture and trauma, the importance of good therapeutic rapport, and emphasize educating referral sources. Virtual format and recorded.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Identify symptoms of psychosis and ways to screen them, and describe the role of culture and trauma in psychosis
  2. Recognize the importance of early intervention and treatment
  3. Acquire techniques for developing good therapeutic rapport with program participants and modeling good language awareness in clinical work
  4. Demonstrate best practices for communicating with program participants and families about psychosis and its symptoms and educating referral sources

Connecting individuals to appropriate interventions can reduce hospitalization, decrease the trauma and severity of symptoms, and can help maintain social support and families’ involvement which aids in a person’s recovery. 

FEP most often effects young adults 15 to 30 years old three in one hundred people experience psychosis at some point in their lives

Contact Us

University of Missouri – St. Louis Missouri Institute of Mental Health
One University Blvd.
B207 Benton Hall
St. Louis, MO
© 2023 First Episode Psychosis • All Rights Reserved.

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