SHIELD Psychiatry

Protecting Young Minds. Empowering Futures.

Early Psychosis and Specialty Care Resources

Thank you for taking the time to complete the SHIELD Psychiatry prescreener. Based on the information provided, the experiences described require an in-person psychiatric and medical evaluation with access to specialty services, laboratory testing, urgent assessment, and hospital-level support when needed. SHIELD Psychiatry is an outpatient telehealth practice and is not structured to safely provide the level of evaluation and monitoring these concerns may require. We are therefore unable to proceed to intake so that your family can connect with an appropriate specialty program without unnecessary delay.

This is not a diagnosis and carries no judgment. Experiences such as unusual beliefs, hearing or seeing things, significant confusion, suspiciousness, or a sudden change in functioning can have several psychiatric, medical, neurologic, substance-related, medication-related, and sleep-related causes. A comprehensive in-person evaluation is needed to understand what is happening.

Why Specialty Evaluation Is Important

Psychosis describes a group of symptoms involving changes in thinking, perception, communication, behavior, or the ability to recognize what is real. It does not identify the cause by itself. Early evaluation can help identify medical or psychiatric causes and connect the patient with the most appropriate treatment.

Changes in Perception

Hearing voices, seeing figures or images, feeling watched, experiencing unusual sensations, or perceiving things that others do not appear to experience.

Changes in Beliefs or Thinking

Strongly held unusual beliefs, marked suspiciousness, believing ordinary events contain special messages, confused thinking, or difficulty organizing thoughts and speech.

Changes in Functioning

A sudden decline in school, work, relationships, hygiene, self-care, motivation, communication, or the ability to complete ordinary daily activities.

Changes in Behavior or Sleep

Severe withdrawal, unusual or disorganized behavior, increasing agitation, prolonged sleeplessness, wandering, marked fear, or behavior that appears driven by unusual experiences.

Start With a Specialty Treatment Locator

  • SAMHSA Early Serious Mental Illness Treatment Locator

    Search for programs serving people with recent-onset psychosis, first-episode psychosis, schizophrenia-spectrum symptoms, bipolar disorder, and other early serious mental health conditions. Programs may include medication, psychotherapy, family education, peer support, and assistance with school or employment.

    Search Specialty Care

  • FindTreatment.gov

    Search the federal directory for psychiatric, behavioral health, inpatient, residential, intensive outpatient, and community treatment programs.

    Find Treatment

  • SAMHSA National Helpline

    Free and confidential treatment information and referral assistance, available 24 hours a day in English and Spanish.

    1-800-662-4357

Florida Psychiatric and Specialty Resources

Call each organization before presenting for a routine appointment. Ask specifically about first-episode psychosis, early psychosis, coordinated specialty care, urgent psychiatric assessment, age eligibility, referral requirements, and insurance participation. For immediate danger, use 911 or the nearest emergency department.

  • USF Health Psychiatry — Tampa

    Academic psychiatric services for children, adolescents, and adults. Ask about the most appropriate specialty or hospital-affiliated psychiatric evaluation pathway.

    (813) 821-8038

  • Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital

    Pediatric hospital services in St. Petersburg. Request guidance regarding behavioral health, psychiatric assessment, or the appropriate emergency pathway.

    (727) 767-4160

  • Nemours Children’s Health — Orlando

    Pediatric behavioral health and specialty medical services. Ask about current psychiatric referral pathways and age eligibility.

    (407) 650-7715

  • Aspire Health Partners — Central Florida

    Community psychiatric, crisis, outpatient, residential, and behavioral health services in the Orlando region.

    (407) 875-3700

  • BayCare Behavioral Health

    Crisis, psychiatric, outpatient, and higher-level behavioral health services in portions of Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas, and surrounding communities.

    1-800-878-5470

  • Gracepoint Wellness — Tampa

    Community psychiatric, crisis, stabilization, outpatient, and behavioral health services.

    (813) 272-2958

Help Navigating the Mental Health System

  • NAMI HelpLine

    Mental health information, family support, and assistance identifying specialty programs and community resources.

    1-800-950-6264

  • NAMI Florida

    Statewide family education, support groups, affiliate programs, and mental health system navigation.

    Visit NAMI Florida

  • Florida 211

    Free connection to county-based mental health services, mobile crisis response, family support, transportation, housing, and other community resources.

    Dial 2-1-1

Supporting the Person While Arranging Care

  • Remain calm and speak slowly using short, simple statements.
  • Do not argue about whether an unusual belief or experience is real. Acknowledge that the experience appears frightening or distressing without confirming the belief.
  • Reduce noise, crowds, confrontation, and unnecessary demands.
  • Maintain close adult supervision when safety, judgment, or self-care is impaired.
  • Secure firearms, medications, car keys, alcohol, substances, and other potential means of harm.
  • Avoid cannabis, alcohol, stimulants not prescribed by a clinician, hallucinogens, and other non-prescribed substances.
  • Write down recent changes in sleep, behavior, speech, functioning, medications, substance exposure, and physical symptoms to share with the evaluating team.
  • Use 911 or the emergency department if the person cannot be safely transported or refuses care while posing an immediate danger.

Continue Current Care Until a Safe Transition Is Completed

If the patient is currently established with a psychiatric prescriber, pediatrician, primary-care clinician, neurologist, hospital team, or another behavioral health provider, please contact that clinician promptly and continue care until a new treatment team is established. Do not abruptly stop, restart, increase, decrease, or otherwise change prescribed psychiatric medication without guidance from the current prescriber, unless emergency medical personnel direct otherwise.

Early and coordinated treatment can improve recovery, functioning, relationships, education, employment, and quality of life. Seeking specialty evaluation promptly is an important and hopeful next step.

We recognize that these experiences can be frightening and overwhelming for both the patient and family. Although SHIELD Psychiatry is not the appropriate treatment setting for the needs described, we sincerely hope these resources help your family reach specialty care as quickly and safely as possible.