Through this paper, I will be discussing my role as a student social worker currently positioned on placement within a mental health practice setting. I will also give an overview of the importance of interprofessional working. “Interprofessional practice has become embedded within the requirements for qualifying level education for social work and health professionals. This review of IPP (Inter-professional practice), for qualifying social work complements the Social Care Institute of excellence (SCIE) Knowledge review 10: The learning, teaching and assessment of partnership work in social work education” (SCIE, 2007). For confidentiality reasons, and in line with the Data Protection Act 1998 (Gov.UK, 1998), any names of people within this paper have been changed. My placement setting is within a mental health crisis team. This Community Acute Service (CAS) provides a 24 hours, 7 days a week service. This comprises of an Acute Day Hospital, Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment Team (CRHTT). The team is made up of trained health and social care workers including approved mental health professionals (AMHP’s) psychiatrists, social workers, occupational therapists, technical instructors, community support workers, administrators and mental health nurses, all working together to help adults experiencing acute mental health crisis (NHS.UK, 2009). The building also houses a male and female mental health inpatient ward. The Crisis team are sometimes referred to as the gatekeepers of the wards, generally carrying out any Mental Health assessments prior to a person being admitted, or sometimes being placed on a “Section”. This usually refers to section 2,3,4 or 5 of the Mental Health Act 1983 (Gov.UK, 2007), which places different conditions on treatment or detention. Crisis teams are part of secondary mental health services. They are set up to respond and support people in the community if they are experiencing a severe mental health crisis. “Having a mental health crisis can mean different things to different people, but can include having suicidal thoughts or intentions, experiencing an episode of psychosis, or engaging in risky or harmful behaviour that could endanger yourself or others” (Rethink.Org, 2014). How you access the crisis team varies between different areas. In most areas, you can be referred directly by your General Practitioner (GP), out-of-hours GPs, or accident and emergency ward staff. Non-acute Community Mental Health Teams (CMHT’s) can also refer their clients to the crisis team for step-up care in times of acute crisis, then be referred back for step-down care when a person’s risk has been minimized, or stabilised. Other forms of step down care from the crisis team include referrals to Early Intervention Teams (EIT), substance misuse services or Healthy Minds. “Healthy Minds is a free service for any person experiencing anxiety, depression or stress” (Oxfordhealth.NHS.uk, 2012). Research by the mental health foundation (MentalHealth.org.uk, 2014) into people suffering with mental illness shows that nine out of ten people feel that stigma and discrimination have a negative effect on their lives. “Society in general has stereotyped views about mental illness and how it affects people. Many people believe that people with mental illnesses are violent and dangerous, when in fact they are more at risk of being attacked or harming themselves than harming other people” (MentalHealth.org.uk, 2014). The Crisis team and mental health teams in general have to work inline with relevant legislation, policies and guidelines. Section 47 of the NHS and Community Care Act 1990 places a duty on a local authority to carry out assessments of needs and services (Gordon, 1994). This underpins the duty of mental health teams to carry out core assessments when referrals are made. This is also in accordance with the Care Programme Approach guidelines (CPA) 1991, which states “Anyone experiencing mental health problems is entitled to an assessment of their needs with a mental health care professional, and to have a care plan that's regularly reviewed by that professional” (NHS, 2013). Assessments are at the heart of social and health care practice, especially within mental health teams. Social work processes including the processes to identify and assess vulnerability and risk is vitally important. The aim of an assessment is exactly that. To identify risks, risks to self, risk to others, risk of harm or neglect and to try and put protective factors in place. Protective factors can be in the form of admittance to hospital, medical reviews, crisis intervention or the referral to other specialist teams. In extreme measures the police can detain a person under section 136 of the Mental Health Act (Gov.UK, 2007), this is compulsory power over a patient. Section 136 allows a police officer to detain a person to a place of safety who is found in a public place and appears to be mentally d