Imagine if you were a 19 year-old, feeling confused, depressed and getting the sense that people were watching you. From time to time it would also seem that radio and TV announcers were passing messages to you. You have also had one or two strange text messages lately. If these were your experiences, what would you be thinking? What would you feel? Where would you go for help?

Two clinicians, Keith Butler and Steve Bell from the Bucks Early Intervention Service (Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust), have developed a website for young people to address some of the questions they may have about their own mental health. The site is called “Am I OK?” as this might be the question that crops up for a young person getting into trouble in their mind. This helps them identify ‘at risk’ mental states and acts as a signpost to appropriate services.

There are many reasons for supporting early recognition and therefore early intervention when psychosis affects young people. When it develops in young people it could remain for the rest of their lives. As such they are lost to society. Further, the experience of psychosis itself is a living nightmare and it is only right that if this distress can prevented, we should do so. Young people with psychosis often have to be supported financially and socially for a substantial time. As a result of all of this, the stress on carers and family is enormous.

There are many sites on the Internet that deal with psychosis and schizophrenia but the large majority contain a lot of jargon and are often quite academic. In other words they do not seem to be suitable for troubled young people who do not know how to identify their problem. Another gap in many instances is that there is an emphasis on symptoms, but little is said about the vulnerabilities that may have contributed to the development of symptoms. “Am I OK?” covers both and is written in everyday language.

Apart from the above, the site also contains other people’s stories, as well as a direct way of seeking out your nearest GP (by linking directly to an NHS search engine). There is also a list of other useful websites and a one-way feedback system.

The site was developed over several years and is backed by research both in the literature and on the Internet. Senior clinicians were also consulted in a focus group. The site has been vetted legally, and a carer also contributed to the site content.

When psychosis settles, many young people have their first contact with services though sectioning under the Mental Health Act. The site therefore encourages troubled young people to make contact with services sooner rather than later and in so doing puts control in their hands and facilitates cooperation.

The site can be accessed via www.am-i-ok.co.uk