Handbook of Secure Care

In any society a small proportion of people with mental disorder present with behaviour that transgresses norms and violates the rights of others. Yet these people are often vulnerable themselves to violence, abuse or exploitation by others, or may be at risk of neglect or self-harm. Long conceptualised as a ‘forensic’ population, there has been a growing realisation that both protection of the public and the personal recovery of these patients must be championed by progressive, specialist clinicians.

This book brings together a wealth of wide-ranging views and evidence from diverse perspectives, including academic expertise and viewpoints from clinicians and patients, on how to manage risk in secure care. It covers the full spectrum of people with mental disorder who require secure care across boundaries of age, diagnosis and gender. It brings to the fore the issues of human rights and staff well-being in secure services, provides a legal and theoretical grounding and advises on good practice in managing risk.

Written by experienced clinicians and mental health professionals, the book is invaluable to multidisciplinary mental health teams and criminal justice services. General and forensic psychiatrists, service managers and hospital and community psychiatric nurses will find this thorough handbook an essential resource in their daily work.

Readership: This is primarily for general and forensic psychiatrists, plus service managers, and for hospital and community psychiatric nurses. It will also useful for multidisciplinary professionals in the mental health team and criminal justice professionals.