Approved mental health professionals (AMHPs) are trained to implement elements of the Mental Health Act 1983. This was amended by the Mental Health Act 2007, in conjunction with medical practitioners. They have received specific training at least at Level 7 on the National Qualifications Framework. Such as a MSc Mental Health (AHMP) or PGDip in Mental Health Studies relating to the Mental Health Acts. They assess and decide if are grounds to detain people who meet the statutory criteria. The AMHP is also an important healthcare professional when making decisions under guardianship or community treatment orders.
In the past an AHMP could only be a social worker. Now the role has been broadened. Community psychiatric or learning disability nurses, occupational therapists and psychologists can also train to be an AHMP.
Assessment and detention under the Act is known as being ‘sectioned’, or ‘sectioning’. This is in reference to the application of sections of the Mental Health Act relevant to this process. The AMHP applies for the ‘section’, not the medical doctor, as many professionals and lay individuals think. So a doctor may feel a section is needed, but the AMHP decides if it is required. This is after detailed assessment and consultations with the individual involved and the medical doctors.
