Wilson M (2007) Cognitive behavioural therapy for risk management in schizophrenia.Nursing Standard. 21, 37, 35-40. Date of acceptance: March 9 2007

reduced to focusing on medication concordance and monitoring of a person’s mental health state by professionals with little collaborative working with patients or their families. Forensic mental health services in the UK were developed for people with mental disorder who are offenders or at risk of offending. Specialist services are provided by the NHS, private sector providers and by the criminal justice system in secure and community settings. People with mental disorder who are offenders or at risk of offending can often attract negative labels such as ‘difficult’ or ‘dangerous’ and can be vulnerable to drug and alcohol misuse, self-neglect and exploitation by others. Their past and current risk behaviours are often used as a predictor for future risk of harm to self and/or others. In the NHS, the current focus of forensic care is mainly in hospital settings, which have low, medium and high security definitions, but specialist community services do exist and people are regularly discharged into the community. However, not all localities have specialist forensic mental health teams and people with a forensic mental health history often access general mental health services, even when specialist services exist. Histories of offending and mental health problems do not automatically mean that NHS specialist teams accept these people. Acceptance criteria for treatment by forensic teams involve complex specialist assessments of dangerousness, treatability and predicted length of stay in secure facilities. These people may also be cared for in mainstream NHS services once they have had a period of treatment in forensic care. Most people who are cared for in forensic NHS residential units are first admitted under a detention order made by a court under Part III of the Mental Health Act 1983. They may also be transferred to these units from prison, having Cognitive behavioural therapy for risk management in schizophrenia