The GRIST web-based decision support system for mental-health risk assessment and management

Research into a cognitive model of classification and clinical decision making was used to produce a web-based decision support system for assessing risks associated with mental-health problems. New methods of eliciting clinical expertise were devised so that the cognitive model could encapsulate multidisciplinary consensus and disseminate it across different clinical services and contexts. The goal was to provide universal access to validated expert advice on risk judgements that could be clearly understood by people without a specialist mental-health background and be flexibly presented according to end-user requirements. The output is the Galatean Risk and Safety Tool, GRiST, that covers suicide, self-harm, harm to others, self-neglect, and vulnerability. It is being used by NHS secondary mental-health trusts, private hospitals, charities, primary care IAPT services, and for self-assessment in the community. The aim is to facilitate risk communication across the care pathway and give patients more involvement in monitoring and managing risks