Working Therapeutically with M, 1st Edition

This is an honest and open review of the challenges faced by staff working with women in secure mental health settings, and current research, thinking and developments in service provision. It’s contributors provide a rich multi-disciplinary perspective, in welcome contrast to the medical model that more usually drives high and medium secure units…Contributors question current practice in, for example, the management of aggression and the use of response teams, discussing these interventions from the viewpoints of service users and suggesting more positive alternative approaches… Well-written and intense insight into working with this challenging client group. – Mental Health Today This publication is aimed at practitioners who work with women in secure settings. There is relatively little material available which integrates practice, research and service development issues in this challenging area, and this publication fills an important gap. The first section explores and explains the theoretical issues which should underpin relevant policies and practices by the different practitioners operating in this, somewhat neglected, field. The section covers matters such a gender and forensic mental health, the vulnerability of women in prison, and women’s pathways into and through secure mental health services. The second focuses on practice issues including challenges for forensic mental health nurses; experiences of women patients, and lessons for practice from a women’s group in a medium secure setting. The final section explores key themes for service development. This is a thought-provoking and authoritative resource. – Care and Health Magazine The Editors have successfully maintained a readable and thought-provoking style in a multi-author text and the book can be recommended to all mental health professionals in this field. – The Mental Health Review This book is an invaluable resource for all healthcare professionals working with women in secure services. It offers an insight into the needs of an often reviled but vulnerable client group. – Journal of Advanced Nursing

Nikki Jeffcote is a clinical psychologist working with both inpatients and outpatients in the Forensic Service of West London Mental Health NHS Trust.

Tessa Watson is a Music Therapist and a senior lecturer and convener for Music Therapy programmes at the University of Surrey, Roehampton.