Psychotic disorders are characterized by high rates of suicidal ideation and behavior, and the risk for suicide appears to be greatest during the earliest stages of psychosis. A recent meta-analysis showed that the majority of youth at clinical high-risk (CHR) for psychosis experience suicidal ideation, and that approximately one in five make at least one suicide attempt. There are, however, no suicide prevention interventions specifically tailored to the needs of transition-aged youth at CHR, and no current best practice guidelines for how to respond to suicide risk in this population. The Youth-Nominated Support Team (YST) intervention has recently been shown to reduce mortality among adolescents and is potentially highly adaptable within the context of existing CHR services. YST is intended as an adjunctive treatment and is primarily delivered towards support persons rather than the youth themselves, and therefore would not interfere or overlap with the already extensive direct services provided in CHR treatment settings. The proposed project intends to adapt the YST intervention for CHR populations. Specifically, the investigators aim to: (1) adapt YST for CHR based on stakeholder input (i.e., clients, family/friends, clinicians) and to develop a new treatment manual and submit an additional IRB to cover the next two aims -- (2) to implement YST in a single CHR clinic and to revise the intervention based on input from clients, providers, and support person and (3) conduct a pilot randomized clinical trial at four SAMHSA funded CHR sites to test the efficacy of the adapted YST intervention and to identify underlying mechanisms of change. The investigators hypothesize that the revised intervention will be superior to existing practice for the reduction of suicidal ideation and behavior.
This study aims to adapt the current Youth-Nominated Support Team (YST) manual used to treat suicide risk for people at clinical high risk for psychosis.