Developing a Recovery-Oriented Suicide Prevention Program for Young People at Clinical High Risk for Psychosis

Summary

Young people at clinical high risk for psychosis are more likely to experience suicide thoughts than the general population, but there are few suicide prevention programs designed specifically for them. This study will develop and evaluate a recovery-oriented suicide prevention group program for young people at clinical high risk for psychosis.

The program will be led by a clinician and a peer with lived experience. It will help participants identify reasons for living, build hope, set meaningful recovery goals, strengthen social connections, and learn strategies to better remember and use suicide prevention strategies developed during the program. Caregivers will also be invited to participate in a session to learn ways to support their young person.

The study will first gather feedback from participants, caregivers, clinicians, and community advisors to refine the program. Researchers will then compare the program plus standard care with standard care alone to determine whether it improves personal recovery and increases participants' ability to remember and use suicide prevention strategies. Researchers will also collect feedback from participants and program staff to better understand how the program can be integrated into early psychosis services.

Conditions

• Clinical High Risk for Psychosis (CHR)
• Suicidal Ideation
• Psychosis
• Suicidal Behavior

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Suicide Prevention Intervention

The program will be led by a clinician and a peer specialist with lived experience. It will help participants identify reasons for living, build hope, set meaningful recovery goals, strengthen social connections, and learn strategies to better remember and use the suicide prevention strategies developed during the program. Caregivers will also be invited to participate in a session to learn ways to support their young person and promote recovery and stability. This program will be in addition to coordinated speciality care for early psychosis.

BEHAVIORAL

Standard Care (in control arm)

Coordinated speciality care for early psychosis

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of California, Los Angeles

  collaborator OTHER

• National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

  collaborator NIH

• University of California, San Diego

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

12 Years

Max Age

30 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2026-08-31

Primary Completion

2028-12-31

Completion

2028-12-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations