title: The introduction of an early warning signs journal in an adolescent inpatient unit.
abstract: Early warning signs are considered to be one of the many tools utilized by specialist early intervention practitioners and other mental health professionals to assist young people how to recognize a deterioration in their mental state or if a relapse is indicated. This article focuses on the role that early warning signs recognition has played in a Child and Adolescent inpatient setting in the form of a journal that is used to record a young person's personal journey by recording early warning signs to prevent a future relapse. Feedback on the use of the journal has been positive from the young people who have utilized the journal and it has also been viewed as a useful and practical framework to identify key symptoms that may potentiate a relapse into illness.
authors.affiliation: Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foundation Trust, University Department of Mental Health, Dorset, UK. sarah.walker@dhft.nhs.uk
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Walker
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kelly
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000451:nursing*; D008960:Models, Psychological; D024802:Nurse's Role; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D009730:Nursing Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research; D011568:Psychiatric Nursing / Q000379:methods*; D012008:Recurrence; D012307:Risk Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D014956:Writing