"Early Intervention in Psychosis Team; Genuine Care & Compassion"

This letter was sent to the team in praise of their support and treatment. Consent has been given by the patient to post the letter on Patient Opinion

I am writing to confirm that I have been a patient of the Early Intervention in Psychosis Team for the past three years. I have been diagnosed with schizophrenia/psychosis three years ago.

With the help from the EIP team I was prescribed 800mg of quetiapine medication a night which I found to be helpful. My previous mental health symptoms before I sought help were 20 hours a day hearing voices and violent thoughts and behaviour. My current main symptoms are hearing voices 2-3 hours per day.

The early intervention team have been the greatest help towards the recovery of my mental illness, and is much more important than just the medication alone. They show genuine care and compassion towards all patients and are extremely professional in what they do.

The team have involved me in many well organised activities such as football, cooking, golf, basketball, cricket, days out, a horticulture course at Wollaton Hall, rock climbing and hearing voices group sessions, which I am also certain is critical for the well being of patients involved, as they get to interact with other people who have similar issues and the activities are extremely enjoyable and therapeutic.

With help and advice the Early Intervention Team have helped me get through successfully completing a HNC course and also a current degree at university which I have almost finished. They have helped me gain more confidence, help me be more positive within myself and give me a direction for improvement.

Thanks to the team, over the past three years my voices have decreased from 20 hours to 2-3 hours a day and I have had no violent thoughts or behaviour, this is not just from the medication.

Judging from my experience over the past three years, I am certain the team are critical to the improvement of mental health issues for myself and other people as they have helped me cope with my issues, by providing me with regular home visits, counselling sessions, recommended coping strategies to deal with my stresses and voices, helping me realise and identify the causes of my mental illness and what to do if there are any warning signs relating to my past violent behaviour and thoughts.

Without their help I would not have gone back to studying and would most certainly have ended up in a prison from when my mental health issues were much more serious, before I sought help from the Early Intervention Team.

I am extremely grateful for the help they have provided me and I strongly believe anyone with mental health issues are fortunate to have the opportunity to seek help from the Early Intervention Team and we should definitely have more teams like this in the UK.