Families are often the primary support people for individuals experiencing psychosis. However, families often report that they lack the skills, knowledge, or expertise to understand, or respond to, symptoms of psychosis. Recently, research has begun to examine how best to train family members in key skills that they can utilize to support a loved one who is experiencing psychosis.

The “Families FIRST” approach includes key skills that are grounded in an established therapy approach called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for psychosis (an evidence-based therapy intervention for working with psychosis) and adapted to be applicable to the real-world experience of families supporting someone with psychosis.

This “Families FIRST” workshop will provide an overview of the CBT for psychosis model with a particular focus on how families can implement the FIRST skills to support their loved ones while also being mindful of their own mental wellbeing. The day will include presentations, review of role played interactions, small group discussion, and Q & A.

Dr. Hardy is a licensed psychologist with extensive experience in early psychosis from a  clinical, research, and service development perspective.  Dr. Hardy began working in the early psychosis field in the United Kingdom during a period when early psychosis service expansion was occurring. She has acted as the Clinical Director for an Early Intervention in Psychosis Service which involved liaising between the community and academic partners, development of a clinical training curriculum forstaff, and development and adaptation of the clinical model as it expanded over five counties. She has presented extensively to local stakeholders and county behavioral health services on the need for early psychosis service development. In addition, she works clinically with this population utilizing CBT for psychosis, provides training and consultation to range of professionals in this approach, and has worked with international experts to make training in this evidence based approach more available in the United  States. She is the Clinical Director of the INSPIRE clinic at Stanford University.