I am a Consultant Psychiatrist who spends a large proportion of my time providing input to non-health settings. This includes work with the East Sussex Social Service Secure Facility, the Medway Secure Training Centre, the Brighton & Hove Youth Offending Team, Queensdown EBD School and the East Sussex Special Placements Scheme.

I read Professor Pearce's paper (Pearce, 1999) with interest, but felt that there were a number of important omissions. I also felt that the perspective taken on some areas was itself so ‘medical’ as to be unhelpful in supporting truly collaborative work with professionals from a different background.