What is the Family Bridger Program?

The Family Bridger (FB) is a novel peer-to-peer model of support to address unmet needs of caregivers of loved ones experiencing early psychosis. While family and caregiver engagement is critical to improving long-term outcomes of individuals experiencing early psychosis, negative caregiver experiences can impede recovery. Peer navigator models have been demonstrated to be a successful method of addressing unmet caregiver needs, though such support for caregivers of loved ones experiencing psychosis is limited. The Family Bridger Program was developed to train caregivers with long-term lived experience caring for an individual experiencing psychosis (Family Bridgers) to serve as peer navigators to address these needs for newer caregivers via interpersonal support, education, advocacy, resource provision, and skill building. FB’s work collaboratively with caregivers to identify needs, co-develop a plan of action, and work with families to meet identified needs.

Please note: Enrollment is currently limited to families engaged in New Journeys coordinated specialty care programs in Washington State.

This training is hosted by the Northwest MHTTC in partnership with the SPIRIT Lab at the University of Washington, the University of Washington Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and the Washington State Center of Excellence in Early Psychosis.

Project Overview/Goals

• New Journeys team members may refer interested caregivers who will be able to meet with Family Bridgers via teleconsultation in one-hour sessions as frequently as once a week, up to 10 times across 5 months.
• Family Bridgers receive weekly consultation to aid in session planning, manage common challenges, identify successes, and to provide an opportunity for additional feedback and reactions to the program, and/or areas for improvement/additional consideration.
• The primary goals of the pilot are:
  • Demonstrate feasibility by recruiting and training Family Bridgers and enrolling caregivers of clients engaged in New Journeys coordinated specialty care programs for early psychosis in Washington State.
  • Collect feedback and program metrics at two timepoints from enrolled caregivers, Family Bridgers, and referring New Journeys team members.
  • Develop training curriculum and program manual to facilitate broader implementation.