Background: Early detection and treatment of mental disorders in adolescents and young adults can lead to better health outcomes. Mental health literacy is a key to early recognition and help seeking. Whilst a number of population health initiatives have attempted to improve mental health literacy, none to date have specifically targeted young people nor have they applied the rigorous standards of population health models now accepted as best practice in other health areas. This paper describes the outcomes from the application of a health promotion model to the development, implementation and evaluation of a community awareness campaign designed to improve mental health literacy and early help seeking amongst young people.

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The Early Psychosis Prevention and Intervention Centre comprises three elements of service provision for young people experiencing a first episode of psychosis: (i) early detection; (ii) acute care during and immediately following a crisis; (iii) recovery-focused continuing care, featuring multimodal interventions to enable the young person to maintain or regain their social, academic and/or career trajectory during the critical first 2-5 years following the onset of a psychotic illness. It does this via a combination of 16 core components, which provide a flexible, comprehensive, integrated service that is able to respond quickly, appropriately and consistently to the individual needs of the young person and their family. Innovative service reforms, such as Early Psychosis Prevention and Intervention Centre, that recognise the value of early intervention are crucial to reducing the impact of serious mental illness on young people and their families and, ultimately, on our society.