New Mental Health Program Helps Young People Dealing with Psychosis

Young people suffering with mental health issues will now be able to get help with a new program called Enliven. 

The State of Nevada and the Children's Cabinet formed this program at the Northern Nevada Mental Health Services Center on Galletti Way in Sparks.

Individuals experiencing impaired thoughts or emotions can come to the program to see if they are suffering from psychosis. Officials hope to provide early detection and recovery treatment to people between the ages of 15 to 25.

The program is the first of it's kind in the state to deal with psychosis. 

Psychosis is not an illness, but a symptom. Dr. Tracey Green with the Department of Health and Human Services says it can be described as a person having a psychotic episode that can result from a mental or physical illness, substance use, or trauma. 

The National Alliance on Mental Health says young adults have an increased risk of experiencing an episode of psychosis because of hormonal changes in the brain that occur during puberty. 

"We want to be able to provide families with intensive services. Help their families, their spouses, their children, be able to understand what their loved one is going through," said Kathleen Sandoval, First Lady of Nevada. "It's a disease just like how cancer is and should be treated. Early treatment is the best way to be successful in their lives and so this will be one of the abilities for them to get early treatment."

Green adds that 18,000 Nevadans suffer with disturbances or mental illness. 

Many people from the community came out to support the new services offered like case management, individual and family support, education and detection.

"We're going to do fully integrated services to look at whether you need housing services, whether you need a job, whether you need an education. And it's not just for the individual, it's for the individual's family or the individual's support system," said Dr. Tracey Green, Chief Medical Officer for Department of Health and Human Services. 

The program has already accepted it's first client and organizers say they're ready to accept even more, with many of the services covered by insurance. 

More Information About Enliven: http://www.enlivenup.org/