Restraint in mental health hospitals: what families want staff to understand.

The Conversation; 2026.

If mental health services want to reduce the use of restraint, they need reliable ways of using the detailed knowledge families have accumulated over years of caring. That knowledge can help staff understand what a person is trying to communicate before distress reaches the point at which force is considered necessary.

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Reducing the need for restraint and restrictive intervention

Department for Health and Social Care, June 2019

This guidance is for health services, social care services and special education settings. It sets out how to support children and young people with learning disabilities, autistic spectrum conditions and mental health difficulties who are at risk of restrictive intervention.

Click here to view the guidance.