The Zone Projects:

Accommodation

Advocacy

Counselling

IceBreak

Insight

Junction

Personal Development

Young Carers

We are a friendly Early Intervention Service offering support to people
aged 14 - 35 years who are experiencing early psychosis

Or perhaps….

You are having unusual experiences such as:

- Receiving messages from TV/radio?
- God or the devil communicating with you?
- Parts of your body changing shape?
- Your thoughts being too fast or too slow?

If you are unsure:

Pick up the phone and speak to one of the team on 01752 265775

Or alternatively you can do any of the following:

• Drop into The Zone and speak to a Youth Support Worker Monday 10am – 6pm and Tuesday to Saturday 10am – 5pm, who will help you decide whether a referral is appropriate
  
• Go to your GP, who can then refer you to the Insight Team
  
• Complete an Insight Referral Form [WORD] [PDF]
  
  Please email to claire.paxton@thezoneplymouth.co.uk or post it to The Zone address.

Commonly asked questions:

• What is Insight?
  
• Who works within the Insight Team?
  
• Who is Insight for?
  
• What does Insight do?
  
• What is the philosophy behind the innovative service?
  
• What alternative sources of support might be available should the service not be appropriate for a referred person?
  
• Who can refer to Insight?

What is Insight?

The Insight Team is one of the broad ranges of services provided by The Zone in Plymouth addressing issues faced by young people today. We are located in the city centre. The Zone is one of the largest voluntary sector youth agencies in the UK. It offers holistic advice, guidance and support in response to young people’s needs. These services include:
- Accommodation and benefits advice (LIFE Project)
- Child Advocacy
- Insight (Early Intervention Service for Psychosis)
- Counselling (Your Space)
- Group Work
- Youth Support Work
- Sexual Health (The Junction)
- Icebreak (Early Intervention for Personality Disorder)
- Young Carers
- Multi Systemic Therapy

Who works within the Insight Team?

Insight is a small multi-disciplinary team, comprising workers from backgrounds of youth and community work, community psychiatric nursing, counselling, psychotherapy, social work and occupational therapy. Additionally, the team is supported by input from a psychologist and a psychiatrist on a weekly basis. Although situated in the voluntary sector, Insight has established links with the Health and Social Services.

Who is ‘Insight’ for?

We work with people aged 14 – 35 years residing within the Plymouth’s inner city boundaries, who appear to be experiencing symptoms indicating the early onset of a psychotic episode; first episodes of experiences to be within the last 12 months. In the event that a person referred to the team has received a diagnosis is less than 12 months old. Those people might have experiences voices, visions they cannot find explanations for, a sense of paranoia, loss or disturbance to memory or ability to concentrate, or a feeling that on occasions, their thoughts are somehow in turmoil. People referred to the service may be experiencing rapid changes in mood, including feeling very depressed or fluctuating between extreme high or low emotional states. Insight will also support people whose substance misuse severely affects their mental health.

What does Insight do?

Insight helps people aged 14 – 35 years to gain greater understanding about their experiences of changing mental health. We help people to learn about ways in which they can gain more control over distressing experiences that may not have been previously possible.

Such distress characteristically reflects:

• The experience of hearing voices
• Bizarre thoughts which may indicate an episode of psychosis
• The uncertainty created by feelings of extreme anxiety, fear or suspicion

What is the philosophy behind the innovative service?

The team work to promote and develop coping strategies, which people can adopt, in order to manage their experiences and cope with daily life. Insight also works with carers of young people, helping to create an environment which will encourage healthy, supportive relationships between the young person and their carers and/or family. We also have an ‘out of hours’ emergency crisis service, which is accessible Monday to Thursday 5pm – 9am and Friday from 5pm to Monday 9am.

This provision has been established to address the needs of people in the early stages of apparent emerging psychosis in order to reduce distress, and optimise positive outcomes for those we support. We hope to work alongside those people who have not received a formal diagnosis of mental illness, on the premise that this should NOT be inevitable. In the event that a person referred to the team has received a diagnosis, then the team can work alongside a person if the diagnosis is less than 12 months old and ideally less than 6 months.

Insight is established within a street – based youth agency, intended to be easily accessible to young people. This enhances the likelihood of young people engaging with support, who might otherwise not access traditional mental health provision locally. The team embrace the need to promote re-engagement of people who may have lost contact with relevant sources of support. They may be experiencing acute difficulties, which might prevent them from making decisions considered to be in their best interests. The Zone adopts a youth work approach which recognises the fundamental importance of young people’s mental health. Insight values the experiences of people ands works to empower and enable them. We strive to promote personal growth and self-esteem. Insight has been developed around a strong educational philosophy. This seeks to enable people to identify ways in which they might learn to become more aware of the experiences and events in their life which may lead to temporary relapse in the quality of their mental health.

What alternative sources of support might be available should the service not be appropriate for a referred young person?

An initial assessment will be undertaken with a person referred to Insight; should their needs indicate that Insight is appropriate for them, then a further assessment period of up to three months may be necessary to establish support and engage with the young person.

Within The Zone, there is a wealth of opportunities for people to access a number of alternative in-house services. The team is already working with a number of people referred on by other services within The Zone. Equally, for some people, Insight has not been the most appropriate source of support, and it has been possible to refer them to other initiatives within the agency, such as the Accommodation Service (LIFE Project), The Counselling Service (Your Space) or the Group Work team.

On occasions, it is necessary to enable people to re-establish links with existing statutory workers, with whom they may have lost contact. There are also a broad range of services within the city with whom Insight has links, and from whom people can receive support and advice around education and personal development, financial support, guidance around substance misuse, training, enhancing their social activities and generally promoting good physical and mental health.

Who can refer to Insight?

Anyone with an interest in a person who is having the sorts of experiences referred to above can contact the team for guidance on how to complete a referral form. To date, referrals have frequently come from those people who access The Zone themselves and additionally from Community Mental Health Teams, General Practitioners, Psychiatrists, Community Psychiatric Nurses, the Housing Department and existing Mental Health Services. Further information and informal advice can be gained about the work of Insight by contacting the team.

Insight Referral Form [WORD] [PDF]. Please email to claire.paxton@thezoneplymouth.co.uk or post it to The Zone.

Useful Leaflets:

[PDF]	[PDF]