Serenity Integrated Mentoring and the High Intensity Network: a scheme that raises serious questions for practice and governance in UK psychiatry

Serenity Integrated Mentoring (SIM) involved the police and mental health crisis services working in a single team, developing case management plans that allowed a seamless move from offers of therapeutic engagement (by the mental health team) to use of coercive measures (by the police) with those who persisted with frequent crisis presentations. Withdrawn after widespread criticism, the scheme raises important questions – about the practice of mental health professionals who are involved in decisions about using criminal sanctions for people presenting in crisis, about the ethical and legal status of the sharing of confidential clinical information with the police, and about the processes that professional bodies use in promoting, monitoring and responding to controversial service developments.