Collin Spencer who is 23 years old now has shared his journey when he suffered from psychosis at the age of 17 and also reveals how he recovered due to a pilot program called NAVIGATE.

Spencer said he used to suffer from hallucinations. It took him months to realize of his mental illness. He did not believe in treatment and was even hospitalized thrice. Finally, after being put on medication he was made a part of a new program based at Clinton-Eaton-Ingham Community Mental Health Authority in Lansing.

The program NAVIGATE’s aim was to help patients who are stuck in a psychotic episode. In the program, additional therapies were given including personalized medication management, family psycho-education, individual therapy focused on resilience, and supported employment and education.

The program was part of a study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry. In the study, the researchers have enrolled 400 patients aged between 14 and 40. They were either given standard care or the NAVIGATE program.

It was found that 223 people who were part of NAVIGATE witnessed more improvement in quality of life and psychopathology and better involvement in work and school. Rate of hospitalization of NAVIGATE patients was 3.2% in comparison to 3.7% of other patients per month.

The patients were studied over the two years in which 34% of NAVIGATE patients were hospitalized in comparison to 37% in the other group. Spencer said that slowly he developed a trust on the people providing the program.

At the age of 23, Spencer has now become part of a new version of the program ETCH(Early Treatment and Cognitive Health) and he feels quite proud of himself as how far he has come in comparison to his days of psychosis.