Service Information

The development and delivery of our service has been informed by a broad range of clinical and commissioning guidance including - ‘Recognising Complexity – commissioning guidance for personality disorder services’, the NICE ASPD and BPD guidance, the National PD Offender Management Strategy – along with extended operational experience with the service patient population. From these, key components in terms of enabling successful service delivery have been derived. These are referenced below and form the basis of The Ansel Group’s clinical service offering. The Ansel Group’s response to each element is noted in italics:

• Appropriate, structured and validated pre-admission and on-going assessment - (will include PCL-R, HCR-20, HoNOS, RAMAS).


• A focus on on-going and dynamic person centred care and planning to encourage and facilitate engagement and motivation - (individualised and iterative case formulation regulated through a clinical governance structure).


• The development and maintenance of optimistic and trusting therapeutic relationships - (enabled and consistently delivered via a social therapy operational framework and regulated through clinical governance structure).


• The consistent and appropriate delivery of a range of treatment interventions including pscychological, pharmacological and offence related programmes - (will include substance misuse programmes, offence focused programmes, DBT, CBT, SOTP, VOTP, Motivational Interviewing etc, depending on the assessed needs of each patient).


• Proactive and coordinated risk assessment and management - (regularly reporting against a base line assessment and including PCL-R, HCR-20, HoNOS, RAMAS).


• Established and ongoing local case management/ CPA - (RiO patient management system enables effective data collection and reporting against contract and case management requirements. Focus is on shared care and active engagement with each patient’s local care team).


• Close collaboration in multi-agency pathway planning - (on going and informed engagement with affiliate/ networked pathway organisations).


• On going workforce education, training, supervision and support - (including the Knowledge and Understanding Framework, The Ansel Group social therapy training, shift reflective practice, peer support and supervision).


• Autonomy and choice for patients throughout the process - (independent patient advocacy, patient council, independent patient survey, active engagement by patients in service development and delivery).


• Service research and outcome evaluation - (dedicated researcher, independent outcome and evaluation studies in conjunction with the Mental Health Institute; social therapy, practice implications, impact expectancies).

Our clinical delivery is built around individual case formulation. This is initiated through a detailed assessment and pre-admission process, is developed through engagement and underpins on going person centred service delivery across the care pathway. Consistency within this dynamic and multi-agency environment is facilitated through our service social therapy operational framework.

The main thrust of our treatment interventions is interpersonal management utilising an iterative approach to the development and maintenance of each case formulation. This informs both milieu and individualised programmes of focused therapy. Consistent and effective delivery of these is enabled by an appropriately trained and supported team of experienced socio-therapists comprising both clinical and non-clinical members.

Effective treatment focuses on addressing general mental health and well being needs in addition to changing deep seated, long-established beliefs and emotions concerning self and others and the inappropriate social behaviours they inform. We create the opportunity and capacity for each patient to stop and think, to consider actions and consequences and through this to develop pro-social behaviours and sustainable therapeutic outcomes. The goal is to produce adaptive and constructive ways of dealing with social situations and interpersonal relationships that have been problematic throughout each person’s life. 

The Ansel Group service as a whole in terms of its treatment philosophy, delivery and outcomes is subject to an internal research study in tandem with an independent research and evaluation programme being undertaken in collaboration with staff from the Mental Health Institute.