Parachute NYC: An innovative approach to serving people with psychosis in New York City

Parachute NYC is an innovative program designed to provide a "soft landing" for people with psychosis between 16 and 65 in New York City. It is composed of three parts: 1) community-based respite beds operated in small, intimate facilities staffed by people with "lived experience" (peers), 2) a peer staffed warm-line available to anyone in distress, and 3) mobile teams providing home-based mental health treatment to people with psychosis for up to one year. Parachute NYC is funded by a three year, federal grant awarded to the NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene, and based on the Needs Adapted Treatment Model (NATM) which has been widely used in northern Europe for 40 years. The essence of NATM is the network meeting, a group composed of the client, the significant people in his/her life, and two staff members who regularly attend. Network meetings achieve stabilization through the creation of a psychodynamically-guided group process in which problems and solutions are allowed to organically emerge. Meetings occur as frequently as necessary, all decisions are shared and transparent, and antipsychotic medications are used as little as possible. The European experience shows that many first break patients stabilize with a maximum of 10 network meetings over the first year with minimal medication. Parachute NYC broadens NATM to include people with more chronic psychotic illnesses, the addition of peers on the mobile team, and support from the respite beds and warm line. We will provide a description of Parachute NYC, as well as preliminary data on its effects on ER and inpatient utilization.