A Mental Health Act assessment may be appropriate under some circumstances.

Do not request an assessment if there’s an immediate risk of significant harm - call 999 and ask for the police or an ambulance.

For an assessment to be required:

• there must some element of significant risk; acting differently is not risky - there must be specific and identifiable risks of harm to themselves or to others
• other options will have been tried first, like an appointment with a GP, management of risk through the Crisis Team, attendance at the Retreat, assessment by community mental health teams
• there will be evidence of mental disorder, diagnosed or undiagnosed; unusual beliefs or unwise decisions are not necessarily evidence of a mental disorder.

Requests for assessments are passed to the Approved Mental Health Professionals Hub from:

• Adult Social Care Contact Centre
• Emergency duty service (out of hours)