Implementing a community group on an adolescent psychiatric intensive care unit

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Occasionally referred to as ‘lock-ups’ for ‘difficult to place’ individuals, psychiatric intensive care units (PICUs) provide specialist care for people with severe and enduring illness and tend to rely on physical security and containment as central therapeutic interventions. Lee Smith and David Hartman describe the implementation of a community group within an adolescent PICU, and discusses how such a group, with clear theoretical and organisational strategies, can address many of the counter-therapeutic processes within such units