Skills for Wellness

What this study is about

Severe mental illness such as schizophrenia and mood disorders typically develops at a young age and can cause life-long disability. Currently available treatments cannot cure severe mental illness. This makes it important to find ways to prevent severe mental illness in young people before it has a chance to develop. This research study will pilot a new preventive intervention for young people who are at high risk of developing severe mental illness. The investigators will target early preceding factors (the 'antecedents') to severe mental illness which includes anxiety, unusual hearing and visual experiences, the loss of previously acquired abilities, and sudden and unpredictable changes in mood. These antecedents strongly predict an increased risk of developing severe mental illness. They are often impairing and distressing to the individual but can be improved with self-management skills and parent training, and they are present in the individual years before the onset of severe mental illness which makes them an ideal target for early intervention. The goal is to intervene early enough in the young person's life that severe mental illness can be prevented, hopefully leading to a happy, healthy and productive adulthood. The investigators want to test the acceptability and short-term efficacy of this new preventive intervention.

Who can join (things the study team will check)

✅ You may be able to join if…

• FORBOW (Families Overcoming Risks and Building Opportunities for Well-Being) participant between 9-21 years old
• Meet criteria for one or more antecedents (psychotic like experience, basic symptoms, anxiety or affective lability)

🚫 You may not be able to join if…

• Diagnosis of severe mental illness (schizophrenia, other psychotic disorder, bipolar disorder, severe major depressive disorder)
• More than 3 sessions of structured psychological therapy in the past 12 months
• Insufficient understanding of the English language to benefit from the intervention

Where this trial is running

• Nova Scotia Health Authority, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
• Nova Scotia Health Authority, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada