Centre for Mental Health

Crisis Resolution and Assertive Outreach teams can transform mental health services

1 April 2004

Crisis resolution and assertive outreach teams are having far-reaching effects on mental health services across the country, according to a report published today by the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health (SCMH) and the National Institute for Mental Health in England (NIMHE).

Transforming Mental Health Care, by Anne Chisholm and Richard Ford, reports on the progress made by some of the early implementers of assertive outreach and crisis resolution services. It shows the importance of good project management and sufficient investment for successful implementation of the new services.

The report also shows the obstacles that services have faced. In some places, it has proven difficult to recruit staff from social care into the new teams. In others, the importance of good team leadership has not always been recognised quickly enough.

Transforming Mental Health Care shows that crisis resolution and assertive outreach teams can affect the whole system of mental health care in a locality. They can change not just the structures of the services but the cultures and attitudes within them.

Angela Greatley, SCMH acting chief executive, said: "Mental health services are undergoing massive changes. Assertive outreach and crisis resolution teams offer new ways of supporting people experiencing major mental health problems. But this change can only be achieved if they are implemented in full, over a realistic period of time, with the resources necessary for the job."

Tom Dodd, NIMHE national programme lead for community teams, said: "New community services can transform mental health care with their ethos of team working and of helping people in all aspects of their lives. It is vital that the staff involved are fully supported, both in getting the training they need for this way of working and in coping with the effects of change on them personally."