Schizophrenia

Shaw provides a range of care and support services for people with schizophrenia. Our aim is to work with you to allow you to live as independently as possible whilst retaining all of the support that you need. We provide full nursing care in registered homes staffed with experienced, trained nurses but there is an emphasis on re-ablement and assisting you to improve your skills and coping mechanisms to move onto a more independent living environment. We understand that a move onto full independence can be very daunting and have developed a range of options specifically for people with mental health needs. We offer supported accommodation in your own self-contained flat within a scheme with communal facilities and 24 hour onsite staff to support you or for people who prefer more of a family atmosphere we also provide shared housing – where you can share a house with a small number of other people with similar needs.
We understand that schizophrenia is a chronic mental health condition that can cause a range of different psychological symptoms. These include:

hallucinations - hearing or seeing things that do not exist, and
delusions - believing in things that are untrue.

Hallucinations and delusions are often referred to as psychotic symptoms or symptoms of psychosis. Psychosis is when somebody is unable to distinguish between reality and their imagination and has little or no insight into their condition.
Most people with schizophrenia are treated by community mental health teams (CMHT). The CMHT is responsible for making decisions about your support and care and Shaw will work with the CMHT to help you to find a support solution to meet your needs and to ensure that you have as much independence as possible.
A CMHT can be made up of:

social workers,
community mental health nurses (a nurse who has had specialist training in mental health conditions),
pharmacists,
counsellors and psychotherapists, and
psychologists and psychiatrists - the psychiatrist is usually the senior clinician in the team.