Our Aims

At the Psychosis Research Unit, our primary goal is to produce world-class research that leads to innovative strategies for reducing the distress experienced by people with psychosis and young people with emerging psychological difficulties. We are committed to promoting evidence-based practices and empowering service-users to achieve their goals while making informed choices about their care.

Our key research themes are early intervention and prevention of psychosis and other mental health problems, promoting treatment choice, reducing stigma, and facilitating recovery. We believe in collaborative working with service-users and encourage research that promotes their respect and dignity.

We strongly believe in working honestly and with integrity in all our research to achieve our core values of hope, choice, and recovery. By working with service-users and placing a high value on their input, we strive to create a safe, inclusive, and compassionate environment.

We recognize that living with psychosis can be a challenging experience, and we are committed to providing support and evidence-based interventions to help people with psychosis and emerging psychological difficulties to manage their symptoms and achieve their goals. Our research focuses on developing new and innovative strategies to improve the quality of life for individuals experiencing psychosis.

We are proud of our commitment to evidence-based practice and empowering service-users to achieve their goals. We believe that everyone deserves to have access to high-quality, evidence-based care that is respectful of their values and preferences.

If you or a loved one is living with psychosis or experiencing emerging psychological difficulties, we encourage you to reach out to us to learn more about our research and how we can support you. Together, we can work towards reducing the distress experienced by people with psychosis and promoting recovery.

OBJECTIVES

1. To develop and evaluate new psychosocial treatments for distressing and or psychotic experiences and prevention of emerging psychological difficulties.
2. To promote treatment choice for service users and carers by establishing evidence to allow informed choice and by conducting research on preferences, priorities and meaningful outcomes.
3. To ensure user involvement is embedded within all aspects of the research undertaken at PRU, including in setting research priorities and specifying research questions, designing and conducting research studies and disseminating research findings.
4. To prioritise research with a particular emphasis on prevention, social inclusion and reduction of stigma.
5. To provide a focus for the development and implementation of quality psychosocial research and development across all disciplines and professions and to ensure translation of research into clinical practice through the engagement of key stakeholders, including service users and carers, clinicians, commissioners and policy makers.
6. To obtain external funding for research, particularly though recognised funding bodies such as the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).
7. To disseminate our research and enhance the Trust’s reputation and research profile through national and international networking, prestigious publications in peer-reviewed journals and conference presentations.