(FREE online course. It starts on 9th October 20) Caring for People with Psychosis and Schizophrenia

The course is open and free to anyone in the world be part of. It is a four week course designed to offer an in-depth understanding of some of the key issues and questions relevant to carers supporting people with psychotic disorders, including:

• Why is schizophrenia commonly described as psychosis?
• How can we best understand psychosis and its key symptoms such as hearing voices?
• What are the links between cannabis use and developing psychosis?
• Can psychosis affect physical health?
• How do medications work and what effects can they have?
• In what ways are siblings of people with psychosis affected?
• How can psychosis affect a carer’s health and their relationships?

The course includes a mixture of activities  such as talking head videos, quizzes, written texts and opportunities for moderated discussions between learners.  It will be the first time a course like this has been developed for carers.

The course includes people with lived experience of caring and a number of leading national and international academics and clinicians from  psychology, psychiatry, pharmacy and nursing including:

• Professor Elizabeth Kuipers (Chair of the NICE Guidelines for Psychosis and Schizophrenia)
• Professor Mike Slade (100 ways to support recovery)
• Professor Sir Robin Murray (Chair of the  Schizophrenia Commission)
• Professor David Taylor (Author of the Maudsley Prescribing Guidelines)

The course is free and open to anyone with an interest in psychosis and caregiving issues.  We designed the course with carers in mind. However, it would also be relevant for any  student or professional working in a health setting with psychosis and carers.  No previous knowledge of psychosis or experience of caring is required to take the course.

The course is based on approximately 3 to 4 hours per week study. The point of the course is that you can study how you like, in your own time. It is about flexible learning, in a style that best suits you e.g. if you want to do five minutes, you can do that, if you want to study for more, you can do that too.  

The course starts 9th October 2017. Enrolment is open from now.

All one needs to do to sign up is simply follow the link below

People can sign up to the course on  http://www.futurelearn.com/courses/caring-psychosis-schizophrenia