Impact Review 2025/26: 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. Here are the HIT’s highlights from 2025-26.

3rd July 2026

Engagement events

In early 2026, the HIT delivered two successful engagement events.

A special screening featuring two films exploring experiences of psychosis attracted an audience of around 80 people. The event included a Q&A discussion with the film producers, expertly chaired by HIT Director Professor Sarah Sullivan. The event generated significant enthusiasm for future arts-based approaches as a means of expressing and understanding psychosis, and the HIT looks forward to developing this work further.

A second, smaller event focused on discussion around psychosis, with particular emphasis on the role of families and support networks, and the impact of psychosis on their lives. Central to the event was a panel of four carers supporting loved ones living with psychosis, who spoke openly and candidly about their experiences. The discussion was sensitively and compassionately chaired by Dr Hanna van der Woude, Clinical Psychologist at Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust.

Psychosis and urban living

This project, led by HIT member Mark Batterham at AWP, explores potential links between urban environments and psychosis. In 2026, five individuals with recent first experiences of psychosis joined the project’s Lived Experience Research Group. The project is progressing towards an in-depth qualitative study examining service user experiences of living in urban neighbourhoods following a first episode of psychosis.

Using the P-Risk tool to predict eating disorder risk

The P-Risk tool, developed by HIT Director Professor Sarah Sullivan, uses existing GP records and demographic data, such as age and gender, to predict an individual’s risk of developing psychosis.

Following a connection made at the Bristol Health Partners Conference, the HIT is now in discussion with the Eating Disorders HIT to explore whether the P-Risk tool could be adapted to predict the risk of someone developing an eating disorder.

Psychosis and weight

Charlotte Lee, Research Fellow at the University of Bristol, is leading research focused on weight management in people with serious mental illness. Funded by an ICB Launching Fellowship and an NIHR SPCR Postdoctoral Award, the work spans behavioural and pharmacological approaches, including the WHEEL study (Weight cHange for people with sErious mEntal iLlness) and the BRIDGE study (Bridging the Implementation of GLP-1-RAs for People with Serious Mental Illness).

This research is embedded within both the Psychosis and Healthy Weight HITs, creating opportunities for collaboration, knowledge exchange and cross-HIT research.