ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION The Highfi eld Family and Adolescent Unit is located in a very pleasant environ ment in Headington, Oxford, in the leafy, Victorian grounds of The Warneford Hospital. The Unit caters for adolescents with acute psychiatric disorders, admitting young people up to the age of 18 primarily from Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, as well as from Northamptonshire, Berkshire and surrounding counties. The Unit, which is part of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Mental Health Partnership Trust, employs a short to medium length of stay policy. Most of our patients are aged 13-17, though we are currently planning to admit 11-and 12-year-olds; the majority are voluntary patients, though some are admitted on a section of the Mental Health Act.
