Are family members involved in early intervention services?

Professor Philip McGuire: Because a large proportion of the client group in early intervention are relatively young, then some of them may still be living with their families and may have very close contact with their families, so the involvement of the families is often important and the family may often be involved in recognising the problem, and bringing the person to the attention of mental health services. So whenever possible, the family is involved in the care of the individual.

In practice, the family involvement might be in terms of first of all bringing the individual into contact with services. The individual themselves may not regard themselves as unwell or may be very reluctant to attend, and then once they’ve attended, then the family can be involved in the implementation of whatever intervention is recommended, and making sure that the individual follows the plan that’s been agreed, and reminding them, for example to keep appointments with the team and so on.