"My son's recovery from Schizophrenia"

Following on from previous story. The help and support that my son needed was extremely difficult to get and it was a shame things had to get so bad before service's took notice.

However once he began to receive the correct support and care, his road to recovery started. It wasn't straight forward, however he and I believe the Early Intervention Psychosis Team in D&G, in particular, Katie, Esther, Jamie and Freya, played a huge part in my sons recovery. They spent time with my son, myself and other family members separately, educating each of us about the signs and symptoms of psychosis. They helped us all understand the reasons why my son was vulnerable to developing psychosis and subsequent diagnosis of schizophrenia.

The team worked with us on communication and basically taught us how to communicate about psychosis as a family. Together we developed a plan for the future which my son and our family agreed on. It lists symptoms which he displays when he is well, when he's becoming unwell, and when he is unwell. This is reassuring, it gives us all peace of mind that if this were to ever happen again, we would be prepared about what to look out for, and the hope would be that intervention of services would be prompt before my son reaches crisis point again. 

My son has contact with a key worker, Jamie, regularly. He has helped my son with lots of things, such as setting up activities for him, helping him to structure his day, being someone for him to talk to other than his family. Everyone needs this.  We believe that The Early Intervention  Psychosis Team, which is made up of a mixture of knowledgeable health professionals (psychologists, nurses, mental health workers, psychiatrists) worked very well together, they really got to know my son as an individual and were able to meet his needs.

I believe that if this service had been in place when my son first became unwell, getting access to help would have been easier. They are invaluable as a service also providing education and information about a very misunderstood, but unfortunately common mental illness. An illness that not many of us know much about and it still very much has a stigma attached to it. More understanding is needed and we believe this team will play a key part in that.

I can't thank the team enough.

Thank you so much on behalf of my son, myself and the rest of our family.