Following the critically acclaimed ‘Solution Focused Practice and Mental Health Crisis – Inclusive Support Towards Safety and Hope’, this unique new book from Nick Perry provides an in-depth application of SFP to the role of the Approved Mental Health Professional in England and Wales.
The book explains how Solution Focused Practice assists AMHPs to interview ‘in a suitable manner’; to provide a more deliberative, strengths-based perspective on decision-making; as well as to practice according to the guiding principles of the newly amended Mental Health Act. With contributed chapters on how the approach supports anti-racist practice; how it can change the experience of people being assessed; and the wider implications for AMHP training courses, the book starts with a full transcript of a Solution Focused conversation and is jam-packed with practice stories showing the approach in a range of settings, including Police Custody, medical hospitals, psychiatric hospitals and the community.
It is a must-read for AMHPs committed to providing useful, least restrictive interventions; and any other professionals working in a mandated setting, keen to promote autonomy and choice for people in mental health crisis.
Table of Contents:
Part One – Learning about Solution Focused conversations
Part Two – Solution Focused Practice and the role of the AMHP
Chapter 1: AMHPs and anti-racism – can Solution Focused Practice help? – by Colleen Simon
Chapter 2: A suitable manner: consideration, presence and interview in Solution Focused AMHP practice – by Ama Dhami and John Mitchell
Chapter 3: How Solution Focused Practice helps AMHPs to demonstrate professional competency and deliver on the statutory principles – by Kelly Alexander
Part Three – Showing the approach in different settings
Epilogue: Embedding Solution Focused AMHP practice
About the Author :
Nick Perry is a registered social worker, an Approved Mental Health Professional, and is accredited by the UK Association for Solution Focused Practice. He has experience as an educator, supervisor, inspector and practice lead, and is a visiting lecturer at Brighton University.
Review :
‘The function of the AMHP is laid out in some detail in statute with reference to what is required in the role. What is less concrete, and subsequently the continuous focus of research, learning and debate, is how someone should undertake the role in a flexible practice environment where the demands on mental health services are increasingly visible in our 'everyday'. It is with this in mind that I welcome this book, explaining as it does how a Solution Focused approach can be applied by an AMHP working alongside someone who has found themselves at their lowest ebb. It will be an important reference point for AMHPs; people who draw on care and support and their carers; as well as commentators and policy makers, to show the powerful preventative contribution the AMHP role can bring, whilst keeping the person being assessed at the centre of the process.’
Jason Brandon served as the Mental Health Social Work Lead between 2021 and 2024 for the Office of the Chief Social Worker for Adults in the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), where he played a key role in developing Mental Health Act amendments and shaping related government policy. Currently, Jason is the Deputy Director and Principal Social Worker (PSW) for Adult Social Care at Hampshire County Council. His influence extends nationally as the co-chair of the National Mental Health ADASS (Association of Directors of Adults Social Services) Network, where he contributes to shaping the mental health agenda.
‘This book speaks directly to the lived reality of AMHP practice. It understands the pressure, the risk, and the emotional weight of making decisions under the Mental Health Act, while holding firmly to the values of humanity, dignity and justice.
Colleen Simon’s chapter on AMHPs and anti-racism speaks directly to me. She addresses, with honesty and care, the over-representation of Black and minoritised people in compulsory admission and challenges AMHPs to reflect on how power, bias and systems shape our decisions. Crucially, she does this without blame. Instead, she considers how Solution Focused Practice can help AMHPs to slow down, listen differently, and make more balanced, person-centred decisions within the constraints of this statutory work.
This is a book that supports AMHPs to do their job well: using the law, integrity, compassion and courage. It deserves to be on every AMHP reading list!’
Shantel Thomas moves at the intersection of courage and change. Social work leader. Activist. Founder and director of the Anti-Racist Movement (ARM) CIC- an award-winning, sacred space where Black women are seen, affirmed, and healed. Born in England, raised in South London, daughter of Jamaican migrants, Shantel’s life is lived experience made radical. Her career began in youth justice, was shaped in safeguarding practice with children and families and rose through academia. She continues raising the profile and voice of social work(ers) as head of discipline and MA course lead at Tavistock & Portman NHS Trust; as well as through her roles with the British Association of Social Workers.
‘I am an Approved Mental Health Professional and a Registered Nurse Specialist and recently I have had the opportunity to undertake some training in Solution Focused Practice with Nick. SFP provides a fantastic way of having a conversation with people who are struggling with their mental health and often have complex needs. It is so refreshing to be able to ask a person ‘what their best hopes are from this conversation’ and let a more natural conversation, based in hope and preferred futures, occur. I have found that it really addresses the power imbalance in MHA work and frees an individual to express themselves fully about their wants, needs and hopes. To hear about Nick’s book is music to my ears. I am now using the approach when I talk to families, and what I have discovered is that whilst I may have interviewed someone several times before, I can now learn new information about their strengths and capability. I really hope that this way of working will be taught within AMHP training courses of the future. I would buy this book for sure and encourage my AMHP colleagues to do the same.’
Kathy Hobman has been a Registered Mental Health Nurse since 2006 and has worked in a number of different settings including Forensic Services, a Mental Health Crisis Team and is currently a full time AMHP. Her work is with individuals who are acutely unwell along with their families, Police and other crisis services.
‘This book offers a timely and compassionate reimagining of how we can respond to people experiencing mental health crises. In the applying of Solution Focused Practice to the statutory work of Approved Mental Health Professionals, we are given a practical and thoughtful framework grounded in dignity, collaboration, and mutual respect. At a time when mental health legislation has been amended, and we will be shaping a new Mental Health Act Code of Practice (to give guidance on how assessments and interviews are conducted under the Act), Solution Focused Practice provides a credible, compassionate alternative to existing models. It shows us the ‘how’ of preserving autonomy and choice, during some of the most challenging moments in people’s lives.’
Kirsten Bingham has been an AMHP and Mental Health Social Worker for nearly 20 years. Between 2021 and 2024, she served as AMHP Service Lead in Hull and was chosen as the Social Worker of the Year Awards AMHP of the Year in 2023. Kirsten became Strategic Lead for Mental Health in Manchester in 2025, driving culture change and embedding strengths-based, person-centred approaches that amplify the voices of people with lived experience as well as practitioners. Her influence reaches to a national level as co-chair of the AMHP Leads Network, where she contributes to the shaping of policy and practice right across mental health social care.
‘Approved Mental Health Professionals occupy a central place in the operation of the Mental Health Act and a second book from Nick on Solution Focused Practice looking specifically at the AMHP role is fascinating. AMHPs often occupy a position of conflict - whether operating amongst the different priorities of the NHS or the private healthcare sector; or whether navigating responsibilities in the context of Right Care, Right Person (with everything that can mean for negotiating police support in complex situations). Solution Focused Practice for AMHPs puts people being assessed first over partner agencies. It is a timely book, which may cause ripples - good.’
Michael Brown is a criminologist and lecturer undertaking doctoral research at the University of Birmingham on mental health police contact deaths and is the author of the 'MentalHealthCop' blog. He spent 27 years as a police officer, mostly as a 24/7 critical incident, public order and firearms commander but also a policy and practice specialist on mental health. This included five years as the national mental health coordinator at the College of Policing for which he was appointed an OBE in 2016, for services to policing and mental health.
‘It is a pleasure to recommend this text because it explains not only the ‘how to’ and the ‘what’ but also the ‘why’. I am persuaded by the way the book is constructed – giving a detailed explanation of Solution Focused questions alongside a real, anonymised transcript; other voices then considering the systems implications of using the approach; and then finishing with a series of case examples, in a range of assessment scenarios.
AMHPs are required to have specific legal knowledge for their statutory role; but they must also show an ability to work collaboratively with people, promoting the rights, dignity, and self-determination of individuals: enabling them to contribute to decisions affecting their lives.
This text provides valuable insights into how Solution Focused Practice can promote strengths-based and personalised approaches to AMHP work. It will be an excellent aid both to AMHP refresher and qualifying training.’
Christine Hutchison has been a Director of Edge Training and Consultancy Ltd since 2013. She worked in mental health services in the NHS and local authorities for over 30 years and as an ASW/AMHP from 1995-2013. Christine was also a Team Manager and Senior Mental Health Training Officer in a London borough. She was a Mental Health Act Commissioner with the Care Quality Commission for 5 years and a lecturer/practitioner on several University AMHP/BIA Programmes for over 10. Christine has been a specialist member of the Mental Health Tribunal Service in England since 2012 and co-author of several publications. She delivers training to AMHPs, doctors and others across England and Wales.
‘As a frontline community mental health clinician, who supports and works with young people at the most critical and worrying end of risk and safety, I interact all the time with the Mental Health Act 1983 and Approved Mental Health Professionals. I’ve not always experienced the best version of this moment, for all sides, and crucially the young person. I am in touch with the complexities and difficulties of the AMHP role, and the difficult national context in which AMHPs operate. I also know and see the difference and meaning Solution Focused Practice provides to people in almost any context. Therefore, it is impossible not to feel excitement, hope and longing for this book, and the impact it will have on the way the Mental Health Act intersects and interacts with people. It will be so wide in its reach, simply because of the way in which sharp-end mental health crises touch and involve so many. Mine is a wholehearted endorsement, and I can’t wait for my copy!’
Luke Goldie-McSorley is a social worker and senior community CAMHS clinician who has practised, read, written, taught and thought about Solution Focused approaches for nearly 15 years. Luke has been part of groundbreaking uses of Solution Focused Practice in statutory social care settings; developed practice guidance rooted in the approach; as well as delivered every level of training course in SFP. He is a contributor to multiple books and articles. He is passionate about, and devoted to working with, children and young people that are the hardest to reach.
‘To become good at Solution Focused working (or any approach) takes time, diligence, practice, feedback, a lot of wrestling with your fears and your next levels of incompetence. All this needs to be grounded in a spirit of humility.
If you take up this journey, you need to expose yourself constantly to people who’ve been there before you. This is where Nick’s book lands pitch perfect. His writing is shot through with wisdom derived from many years’ experience. Critically, Nick brings together this practice wisdom with guidance about how to apply Solution Focused working in real-world mental health settings: medical and psychiatric wards, community settings, working with Police, and more. Most uniquely Nick gives explicit, detailed attention to the thorny issue of how to be skilful therapeutically, whilst working within statutory and emergency frameworks. This is territory not usually addressed by Solution Focused authors, and I thank him for it!’
Andrew Turnell AM is Social Work Professor of Practice at Cumbria University, principal co-creator of the Signs of Safety, founding CEO of Elia International (the home of the Signs of Safety since 2020) and in January 2023 received a Member of the Order of Australia award for his sustained, innovative contributions to child protection Social Work.
