Implementation of Early Psychosis Intervention Program ... - EENet

16Standard 4 Results: Psychosocial Support for the ClientThis Standard pertains to providing supports to help clients maintain or resume their usual roleswithin the community and promoting a culture of hope for the future. Programs were asked abouttheir ability to deliver psychosocial support in 10 areas. Responses indicated that:o Most programs are able to provide illness management most of the time.o About 70% can provide/ensure access to activities of daily living, social relationship andsubstance use support most of the time.o Rates were lower for education, income management, recreational, vocational and housingsupport (about half).o Only 37% of sites were able to provide or ensure access to self-help or peer support most ofthe time.o Psychosocial supports are provided either by internal staff or through referral. Manyprograms reported that mainstream supports were not appropriate (60%) or available (56%).Internally, programs noted a lack of resources (42%) and staff time (39%), especially forsmall programs.o Proactive effort may help to make community specialized services more accessible andappropriate for EPI program clients – this could require area/network level effort.Standard 5 Results: Family Education and SupportThis Standard addresses active engagement of families (with client consent) in client carethrough education about psychosis, treatment, medications, side effects, substance abuse, andrelapse prevention and strategies to support the client during treatment and recovery.o Overall, 71% of sites reported being able to actively involve and support families ‘most ofthe time’; this was more challenging in small programs where 57% implemented ‘most of thetime’.o About half of sites have a designated family support worker; others reported sharing theresponsibilities of this role across several staff members. Small programs were less likely tohave a dedicated worker.o The main challenge was finding time to connect with families (especially after hours) and toorganize education and peer support activities.o Greater use of technology (e.g., social networking sites, websites, E-mail, chat rooms) couldbe explored to improve engagement with families.Standard 6 Results: Graduation from the ProgramThis Standard indicates that EPI services are designed to be a time-limited service, with mostclients staying for up to 3 years and then being linked to the least intensive and least intrusivelevel of care to meet their ongoing needs.o Implementation of this Standard was lower, with only 56% of sites implementing ‘most ofthe time’. This element was a challenge across all sites.