Risk assessment and management in practice: the Forensicare Risk Assessment and Management Exercise

There is an emerging consensus that the assessment and management of adverse outcomes in mental health, such as violence and self harm, is best achieved by approaches which incorporate validated tools using "structured professional judgement". Although several useful tools have emerged from the literature, there is no clear consensus on the best way to integrate these with clinical practice. This paper describes a framework, the Forensicare Risk Assessment and Management Exercise (F.R.A.M.E.), employed by a statewide community forensic mental health service, which incorporates two structured professional judgement tools, and explicitly integrates these into case management and psychiatric treatment. The potential benefits of the framework are discussed in the context of contemporary trends in risk assessment and management.

The F.R.A.M.E. appears to assist with the task of integrating risk assessment with clinical management. Formal evaluative research is indicated before it can be recommended for use by other services.