Impact Review 2024-25: Psychosis HIT

The Psychosis Health Integration Team (HIT) is a team of people who experience psychosis, their families and carers, researchers, mental health professionals, commissioners, service providers and other experts. They support the development of evidence-based services that will improve the lives of people with psychosis in our region, and beyond.

19th July 2025

Key research: P-Risk tool

A major research paper led by HIT co-director Sarah Sullivan was published in 2024. It focused on the external validation of the P-Risk tool, which uses existing GP records and information like age and gender to predict someone’s risk of developing psychosis. The study showed that this tool works accurately without needing to collect new data. It will shortly be tested in GP practices in London, Bristol, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire and Oxford over a six-month live run. There’s also interest in seeing if it could be used to help with dementia and other mental health problems such as bipolar disorder.

Public events and engagement

Psychosis and Urban Living Exhibition

A multimedia art exhibition ran from June to August 2024 in Bath. It celebrated the involvement of people with lived experience in mental health research. The event was well-attended and received positive feedback. The research project, led by HIT member Mark Batterham, has been approved for funding and will continue involving people with lived experience. Read the public contributors’ blog.

Seminar on Psychosis, Religion, and Spirituality

This seminar organised by the Psychosis HIT took place in January 2025 in Bristol. Over 60 people attended, including GPs, carers, and people with lived experience. The event encouraged open discussion and received very positive feedback.

Seminar on Psychosis and Menopause

Another successful seminar organised by the team was held in February 2025 in Bristol, with researchers from Oxford University. It focused on psychosis that starts during peri-menopause and menopause, and aimed to identify research gaps and plan future studies. The event was fully booked with 75 attendees, and again, was very positively received.

Research and collaboration

The HIT is becoming a central hub for psychosis research in the region. It works closely with the Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership (AWP) Research & Development team. Forty percent of AWP’s research now focuses on psychosis, and the HIT is helping to support and connect research efforts.

10th anniversary in 2026

The HIT will celebrate its 10th anniversary by showing In the Real, a documentary about the Bristol Hearing Voices Network, made by local filmmaker and psychoanalyst Conor McCormack in 2016.

Funding enabled in 2024-25

The Psychosis HIT helped secure £243,000 in 2024-25 for projects to generate research evidence, improve outcomes and address health inequalities.