Australian Early Psychosis Collaborative Consortium

Australian Early Psychosis Collaborative Consortium

What it is

The Australian Early Psychosis Collaborative Consortium (AEPCC) is being established to improve the care of young people experiencing psychosis. It is convened by Orygen and funded by the Wellcome Trust.

AEPCC will partner with clinicians, researchers, people with lived experience of psychosis and their family and friends, mental health advocacy groups, policy makers and governments across Australia.

The aim of AEPCC is to strengthen clinical services for the benefit of young people with early psychosis by providing a framework for streamlining the translation of research into real-world practice.

AEPCC will establish three programs by December 2023:

  • a Clinical Trials and Translation Network;
  • a Clinical Quality Registry; and
  • a Lived Experience Network.

 

How it works

Clinical Trials and Translation Network

The AEPCC Clinical Trials and Translation Network (CTTN) will be an enabling platform to facilitate early psychosis research across Australia.

The CTTN will endorse and support large, high-quality, multicentre early psychosis clinical trials and research studies. It will also enable more efficient and timely translation of results back into clinical practice.

Clinical Quality Registry

The AEPCC Clinical Quality Registry (CQR) will collect and analyse key data about outcomes from early psychosis services across Australia.

The CQR will help improve future clinical care for young people experiencing early psychosis by identifying the most appropriate treatments and areas of improvement, and researching new treatments through linkages with clinical trials and research studies.

Lived Experience Network

The AEPCC Lived Experience Network (LEN) will be created and guided by the early psychosis lived experience community.

It will work with the CTTN to develop meaningful ways in which young people with lived experience of psychosis can participate in the early psychosis research agenda.

This will include helping to set the research priorities and engaging young people to participate in research studies. The LEN will also design and implement two community engagement projects.

Why it’s needed

Psychotic illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are a major cause of premature death and disability in Australia and globally.

Psychosis generally arises in adolescence and young adulthood and often affects normal development, which can have long-term impacts on educational outcomes, physical health, employment and relationships.

It is vital to identify young people at risk or experiencing psychosis as early as possible in order to provide high-quality, evidence-based care to treat symptoms and reduce the risk of progression to a lifelong disorder.

Although clinical guidelines have been developed, variations in treatment remain. AEPCC’s work will provide crucial insights to allow more standardisation and continual improvement in care, and significantly improve the lives of young people experiencing psychosis.

Partners and collaborators

AEPCC will be built on partnerships and collaboration across the early psychosis sector in Australia.

We are grateful for the ongoing support of the AEPCC Investigators, AEPCC Advisory Council members and the CTTN Establishment Committee.

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Contact us

For more detailed information about AEPCC, visit our dedicated website:

aepcc.org.au

If you have any questions about AEPCC, please email [email protected] or call 03 9966 9100.