At the heart of an early psychosis centre: the core components of the 2014 Early Psychosis Prevention and Intervention Centre model for Australian communities.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the core components of the Early Psychosis Prevention and Intervention Centre service model as the template agreed with the Australian Federal Government for national upscaling. The Early Psychosis Prevention and Intervention Centre model of early intervention has two main goals: to reduce the period of time between the onset of psychosis and the commencement of treatment and to bring about symptomatic recovery and restore the normal developmental trajectory as early as possible. CONCLUSIONS: The Early Psychosis Prevention and Intervention Centre comprises three elements of service provision for young people experiencing a first episode of psychosis: (i) early detection; (ii) acute care during and immediately following a crisis; (iii) recovery-focused continuing care, featuring multimodal interventions to enable the young person to maintain or regain their social, academic and/or career trajectory during the critical first 2-5 years following the onset of a psychotic illness. It does this via a combination of 16 core components, which provide a flexible, comprehensive, integrated service that is able to respond quickly, appropriately and consistently to the individual needs of the young person and their family. Innovative service reforms, such as Early Psychosis Prevention and Intervention Centre, that recognise the value of early intervention are crucial to reducing the impact of serious mental illness on young people and their families and, ultimately, on our society.