Psychosis,Psychosis - schizophrenia
Feeling Safer Study
Calling for participants until
31 Oct 2026
Participant type
Adults
Rewards
up to £60
Overview
Persecutory delusions (inaccurate beliefs that others intend to harm you) for example, "MI5 and the police are trying to torture me" are very common in severe mental health disorders such as schizophrenia. People withdraw from everyday life. This seriously affects their mental health and physical health.
Existing treatments often don't work well enough. In the UK 150,000 NHS patients experience these distressing thoughts despite treatment. This is why we developed the Feeling Safe Programme.
For more information, please take a look at the Feeling Safer Programme video: https://youtu.be/vUUxrts25XU
Summary
The Feeling Safe programme is the outcome of fifteen years of research and clinical practice. We recently tested Feeling Safe in a clinical trial with 130 patients with persistent persecutory delusions. The treatment was delivered by clinical psychologists over 20 sessions. Half of people achieved large benefits. Another quarter made moderate gains. These results provide great cause for optimism in the treatment of delusions.
The challenge now is to make Feeling Safe widely available. So, we have created a six-month guided online version that users can access whenever they choose via smartphone/computer or tablet. A range of mental health workers can support the delivery of the treatment over six months (both remotely and face to face). Six face to face sessions will be reserved for a key task: going out with patients into everyday situations to relearn safety. The new programme is called Feeling Safer.
- Participant is willing and able to give informed consent for the participation in the trial
- Aged 18 years or older
- Attending NHS/commissioned VCSE mental health services for treatment of psychosis
- Persistent (at least 3 months) persecutory delusion held with at least 50% conviction
- No planned significant medication changes at the outset of participation
- People recruited by the centralised virtual delivery site will need to agree to take part in assessments and therapy remotely
- A primary diagnosis of another mental health condition (e.g. substance use disorder) that would be the first clinical priority to treat
- Current engagement in any other intensive individual psychological therapy or a significant change in medication
- In forensic settings or Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU)
- Unable to understand and speak English
- Significant learning difficulties that would prevent the completion of assessments or the therapy
- A participant may also not enter the trial if there is another factor (for example, current active suicidal plans that need to be focus of intervention), which, in the judgement of the investigator, would prelude the participant from providing informed consent or from safely engaging with the trial procedures. Reason for exclusion will be recorded.
Meet the researcher
Sam HeathcoteSam Heathcote is a Senior Research Practitioner at Devon Partnership NHS Trust and a qualified social worker with over 25 years' experience in adult mental health. She has worked across diverse settings, including MIND, Assertive Outreach, specialist personality disorder services and as an approved mental health professional. Sam spent a decade in a community mental health team and brings strong clinical expertise and risk management skills to her role. Within the Research and Development team, she recruits study participants and supports data collection, contributing her experience and insight to help deliver meaningful, high-quality mental health research.
Collaborators
