ABSTRACT
The mobile crisis home treatment services in this chapter were chosen for various reasons. The North American services-U.S.A. and Canada-were the only ones I could find. Unfortunately, this list includes only one U.S. example of MCHT as defined in this book. Undoubtedly there are others, but I was unable to locate them in spite of vigorous efforts. These included canvassing members of the American Association of Community Psychiatrists list-serv group, buttonholing key people at meetings of the American Psychiatric Association and other meetings, calling the few leads that I had, and searching web sites. The reasons for my lack of success are unclear: they likely include the sheer size of the U.S.A.: any such programs may be widely scattered; lack of an agreed terminology: people are not clear about what I am seeking; paucity of recent published literature in the U.S.A. on this topic; my lack of American professional contacts; and the lack of any central organization devoted to such a service delivery model. In Britain, the St. Albans service was chosen because its catchment area was relatively affluent and suburban, in contrast to the others with which I was familiar, which were located in socially deprived, inner-city areas. Also, it was developed by Neil Brimblecombe, a nurse manager, who has written a book on MCHT from a British perspective (Brimblecombe, 2001). The Manchester Home Option Service is of particular interest because it evolved from a well-researched day hospital.
