Development and delivery of Comprehensive Assessment of at Risk Mental States (CAARMS) - supervisor

• Prevention of psychosis: rationale and impact  

• Detecting emerging psychosis; key psychopathology, stages of psychosis  

• Overview of psychometric tools that can be used to assess clinical high risk (CAARMS, Structured Interview for Prodromal Syndromes (SIPS) /Scale of Prodromal Symptoms (SOPS), DSM-5 with focus on CAARMS  

• Comprehensive Assessment of At Risk Mental State; foundations and core concepts  

• Core subgroups  

• Environmental and practical setting for assessing clients at risk  

• Thresholds for psychosis; idea of false positive/ false negatives, outcomes in those who do not make transition  

• For ARMS; attenuated psychotic symptoms, brief limited intermittent psychotic symptoms (BLIP), genetic risk and deterioration syndrome  

• Core psychometric CAARMS rating principles; intensity, frequency, onset/ offset, relationship to substance use, anchors, ‘rate don’t formulate’, functioning  

• Core psychometric CAARMS rating scales; P1. unusual thought content, P2. non-bizarre idea, P3. perceptual abnormalities, P4. disorganised speech  

• Complementary psychometric CAARMS rating scales for affective and behavioural symptoms e.g. Sofa’s scale  

• Operational and pragmatic considerations for CAARMS assessment in the NHS; where fits in wider assessment and risk management, pre-screening, transdiagnostic assessment and comorbidities  

• Brief overview of clinical care for ARMS; principles of screening, assessment, follow-up, crisis management and preventive interventions 4  

• Wider context and looking forward; unreliability of CAARMS in the over 35year olds; assessing clinical risk states for disorders beyond psychosis 

CAARMS supervisors will receive advanced training over one day, with the option of a half-day refresher, to effectively supervise, evaluate and assess CAARMS practitioners to build sustainability and impact.

The eligibility criteria for training will be assessed prior to enrolling on the programme. For supervisor training, you must have acquired Comprehensive Assessment of At Risk Mental State (CAARMS) practitioner certification (or pass an initial psychometric reliability test) and demonstrate experience as a senior lead within a specialised clinical service. Scores from each application will determine eligibility onto the programme. If you do not meet these criteria but you are working in early intervention for psychosis, early detection for psychosis, general practices or any other clinical services where you may assess young people with emerging mental disorders, you may be eligible for our practitioner training. Please click here to access our practitioner training course.  

Please click here to download the program FAQ's.