Community Mental Health Teams (CMHTs) have evolved over the last 30-40 years to serve patients with mental illnesses who would previously have been treated in large mental hospitals. They play a pivotal role in the provision of mental health care in the developed world. Consisting of nurses, doctors, social workers, and psychologists, the people within these teams work together to care for individuals with severe mental illnesses outside the hospital. Because CMHTs have evolved, rather than been developed, little has been written about how they should work - how the multidisciplinary members of the teams can work effectively together, who should do what within the team. This is the first book to provide practical advice for those working within these teams. It addresses the needs of the individual specialists within the CMHT, and provides clinical advice based on what has been seen to work. The book also looks at the recent development of 'functional' CMHTs - Assertive Outreach, Crisis resolution, and early intervention services, describing how these teams work, their similarities, and their differences. Written by a leading authority in this field, the book will become the standard text for all those specialists working within and close to community mental health teams.

About the Author
Tom Burns is Professor of Social Psychiatry at the University of Oxford. He was the consultant in charge of the Wandsworth Assertive Outreach Team - recognised as a centre of excellence in being awarded Beacon status by the Department of Health.

Reviews
A book that provides a map of this brave new world should be valuable both for the experienced practitioner and the tyro. I cannot think of anyone better placed to write such a book than Tom Burns, now Professor of Social Psychiatry at Oxford, who has for many years been at the forefront of innovations in service delivery. In Community Mental Health Teams he has supplemented his considerable personal experience and knowledge of the literature with direct observation of mental health teams both in the UK and North America. The structure of the book is simple and the writing is clear. Chapters describing the four functional teams provide the core of the book: Burns underlines the commonalities between these teams as well as describing their differences. It provides all the information that an examination candidate should know, but like all good books this text raises more questions for the perceptive reader that it answers. * Psychiatric Bulletin *
The book is informative and readable and it will be a valuable addition to a professional library. It is certainly a book that I will refer to for both practical tips on running teams and when I need to negotiate service developments with managers and policy makers. * Psychological Medicine, 35 *
. . . this comprehensive book is an excellent introduction to the history and aims of CMHTs, and the challenges they face. * Mental Health Today *



Book Information
ISBN 9780198529996
Author Tom Burns
Format Paperback
Page Count 224
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Dimensions(mm) 239mm * 169mm * 14mm