ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the notion of targeting in the context of training those who provide care for individuals with serious and enduring mental health problems and are deemed to be especially vulnerable or dangerous. It focuses on the role of training in interventions with which people with severe enduring mental illness [SEMI] are to be targeted in order to manage risk. The chapter presents a brief discussion of the background context of perceived risk and dangerousness attributed to people with SEMI and describes the utility of psycho-social interventions. People with serious mental health problems are proportionally more likely to be the victims, rather than the perpetrators, of acts of violence or aggression, and are at much greater risk than the general population for self-injury, being especially vulnerable to suicide. The systems for evaluating and managing risk in mental health services need to be considered within a wider political and social context.
