To understand those factors which facilitate or hinder resolution of Mental Health Crises in order to inform future development of Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment (CRHT) Teams.

Qualitative Interview study conducted by service users trained in research techniques. Home based interviews were conducted with 36 randomly selected patients who had used the services of one of nine CRHT teams across the East Midlands, United Kingdom, which serves a catchment population of 1.2 million people during a two week census period in October 2007.

Participants reported different levels of satisfaction with the treatment and professional responses they received. We identified three themes leading to successful resolution of mental health crises: being enabled to feel safe, to feel accepted and to feel understood. Participants did not identify specific treatment interventions such as medication or formal psychotherapy as important contributors to recovery. Unhelpful experiences included professional responses which resulted in participants feeling misunderstood or ignored, unsafe, vulnerable or anxious, or that they were being judged.

The quality of relationship between the patient and members of the CRHT team is critical to any therapeutic effect. Therapeutic effect is optimum when it is based upon an adult to adult relationship which can provide a holding function allowing the service user to feel safe, accepted and understood while the crisis resolves. These findings have important implications for commissioning and managing such teams, and theoretical implications for medical practice morewidely.