Structured Clinical Management (SCM) for Personality Disorder: An Implementation Guide

Structured clinical management (SCM) is a unified approach to the treatment of people with personality disorder, which is within reach of general mental health professionals without extensive additional training. However, implementation can be fraught with difficulties, and clinical leads, managers, and practitioners can struggle to implement SCM across complex mental health systems.

This book provides an easy to read, practical, and detailed guide on how mental health services can implement SCM in their current clinical pathways and how clinicians can transform their general techniques into a coherent interventional approach for people with personality disorder. Containing insights from clinical experts, researchers, service users, and practitioners of SCM from across the UK and Europe, each chapter outlines a core aspect of the SCM model and its delivery in clinical services. Detailed case studies demonstrate real-world applications of the SCM model, and details are provided about the involvement of carers and families, along with tips on enhancing clinical outcomes and increasing service user engagement.

This book will be a valuable resource for qualified and in-training mental health professionals, including psychologists, nurses, occupational therapists, social workers, and psychiatrists. It is particularly relevant to those involved in delivering first-line treatments to people diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder and other personality difficulties.

Stuart Mitchell, Consultant Clinical Psychologist & Trust Lead for Personality Disorder, Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne & Wear NHS Foundation Trust, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK,Mark Sampson, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Professional Lead for Psychology and Psychological Therapies, Lead Clinician in Personality Disorder Mersey Care, St Helens, UK,Anthony Bateman, Visiting Professor, University College London, UK; Honorary Professor University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Stuart Mitchell is an HCPC registered Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Trust Lead for Personality Disorder in the Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust. He is a trained Clinical Psychologist, Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist, EMDR, MBT and DBT therapist. He is an MBT skills trainer and accredited supervisor. He has, with his colleagues, developed and leads the Personality Difficulties and Complex Trauma Pathway and Strategic Clinical Network in his Trust, and supports a Trust-wide Personality Disorder Service. This team won Team of the Year in his Trust in 2018 and a National HSJ Award in 2018 for patient safety. He provides training, supervision and consultation to his Trust and around the UK on complex trauma, personality disorder and adapted care pathways. He is involved in national developments of practice guidelines for dissociation and complex trauma.


Mark Sampson is Lead Psychologist and Lead Clinician in Personality Disorder and Psychology Lead for NWBH Foundation Trust. For the past 16 years he has specialized in working with people that meet the diagnosis of a personality disorder. He has been involved in Local and National policy development for personality disorder. National work includes working for NICE as a guideline development group member on the borderline personality disorder guideline 2006 to 2009. He has been chair/lead for the development and implementation of Northwest Borough's Personality Disorder Pathway and Greater Manchester Clinical Lead for their BPD strategy. The NWBH personality disorder pathway has had Local and National recognition and the service won a Positive Practice Award in 2019. He co-edited 'Personality Disorder and Community Mental Health Teams' (2006). He was a member of the NHS England Clinical Reference Group for Tier 4 personality disorder - representing Cheshire and Merseyside.

Anthony Bateman developed mentalization based treatment with Peter Fonagy for borderline personality disorder and studied its effectiveness in research trials. An expert member of National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) development group for treatment guidelines for Borderline Personality Disorder in UK and was Chair of the National Guideline Development Group for Eating Disorders. His NHS clinical services are recognised by the Department of Health as a national demonstration site for the treatment of personality disorder. He was President of the European Society for the Study of Personality Disorders (ESSPD) from 2012-2015. He received a senior scientist award from British and Irish group for the Study of Personality Disorder in 2012 and in 2015 the annual award for “Achievement in the Field of Severe Personality Disorders” from the BPDRC USA. He has authored 14 books and has over 150 peer reviewed research articles on personality disorder and the use of psychotherapy.