C.A.L.M. combines a public health, real-world approach with academic expertise to bring our community:

• Cutting-edge education surrounding psychosis
• The TRUTH surrounding the myths often associated with psychosis in order to reduce stigma and make psychosis easier to communicate about
• Access to care and early detection through information about the Early Psychosis Intervention Clinic-New Orleans (EPIC-NOLA)
• The opportunity to help fundraising efforts for activities associated with maintenance of this project for perpetual promotion of our mission
• Opportunities for our future physicians to become educated on first-episode psychosis to facilitate their growth as patient advocates

What is psychosis?

Message from Dr. Weiss

I ask you for a moment to put yourself in the shoes of someone experiencing psychosis:

You are not sure if the voices you are hearing are real, so you ask people if they can hear them too and they look at you funny. You are feeling that the people around you are out to hurt you, so you isolate yourself. You do not feel safe around people you usually trust, so you push people out of your life. You are confused because normal
everyday experiences start taking on special and peculiar meanings, so you begin to feel worried. These experiences feel real and no one understands, and you are afraid to talk about it.

People experiencing psychosis for the first time are trying to MAKE MEANING out of the experiences. They are trying to make sense of feelings and thoughts that do not make sense. They often have the feeling they are losing their mind.

IMAGINE FOR YOURSELF HOW SCARY THIS MUST BE: TO BE UNABLE TO TRUST YOUR OWN MIND. We need to help these individuals feel supported and get help early, because treatment is powerful and works to get people feeling back to their usual selves.

After launching a crowd-funding campaign and through the support of many amazing people, we are able to bring our community this resource. C.A.L.M.’s efforts will help New Orleans become: 

UNAFRAID | EDUCATED | EMPOWERED

We aim to help individuals take steps towards EARLY TREATMENT of psychosis, which has been proven to improve outcomes for individuals.