Mental Health is now a digital field. The last few decades have brought digital approaches to both clinical systems and service user supports. The COVID-19 pandemic has further accelerated this, highlighting both new ways of working but also major issues with our hardware and clinical systems. This book will empower those working in mental health to to gain the most from digital changes, to build better services, and to enhance the quality of care that is delivered to patients. It will update readers on the digital mental health landscape and cover technology-enabled care, big data, the challenges of technology in the NHS, and the role of professional bodies in developing future digital clinicians. In an increasingly digital world this is a critical guide for mental health professionals to realise the benefits of technology for patients.

Dr Rob Waller is a Consultant Psychiatrist and Associate Director of Medical Education with NHS Lothian, where he is also Digital Mental Health Lead. He is responsible for coordinating all aspects of digital development within mental health including electronic records, decision support, analytics and digital maturity. Dr Omer S. Moghraby is a Consultant Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist and Chief Digital Information Officer at West London NHS Trust. He is also senior clinical advisor on the CAMHS Digital Lab at Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, Kings College London. He was previously deputy Chief Clinical Informatics Officer at South London & the Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. He has served on the RCPysch Informatics Committee for a number of years, leading on a number of national digital mental health projects and documents. Dr Mark Lovell is a Consultant Child and Adolescent Intellectual Disability Psychiatrist and former Chief Clinical Informatics Officer at Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust. He previously represented both the Intellectual Disability and Child and Adolescent faculties at the RCPsych Informatics Committee. He lectures and trains internationally in his specialist areas of Childhood Intellectual Disabilities and Autism as well as doing research.