Everybody's business
This section will explore some of the newer whole system thinking that underpins the emerging service models for achieving much earlier intervention. We will particularly focus on the primary care / specialist interface and the role of primary care within the early care pathway.
Introduction
The degree to which early intervention is, or is not achieved provides a measure of how well service systems interface along the care pathway. However these care pathways are often complex, presenting hurdles at traditional interfaces between primary and specialist care, as well as inter-specialist interfaces e.g. between Children/Adolescents’ and Adult Mental Health Services. These potential obstacles are worsened if services are culturally inappropriate or insensitive to youth. Successful pathways to the right sort of specialised care require us to work together; families, friends, primary care and social services, emergency services, business, voluntary and faith groups, and the media can all help.
Major mental illnesses are frequently a developmental disorder
Our understanding of mental disorders has been transformed over the last two decades by a variety of revolutionary technologies, alongside careful epidemiological and longitudinal research. It is now clear that many of these disorders first manifest themselves whilst the brain is still developing. This can explain why many people, irrespective of syndromic diagnosis, first become ill in adolescence or young adulthood, at a key time of maturation when aspirations such as self-determination, relationships and work may become irreparably damaged. Service models and systems must continuously develop to reflect this changing understanding by responding in a person-centred way.