Mental health rehabilitation services were established during the era of deinstitutionalisation in the latter half of the last century. Since then, their focus on 'resettlement' of the residents of asylums into community-based settings has evolved, as it became increasingly clear that most individuals had the capacity to gain (or regain) skills that allowed them to live and participate with increased independence in the community. With the gradual expansion and greater specialisation of

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... y-based mental health services over recent decades, contemporary mental health rehabilitation services have increasingly focused on people with more severe and complex problems. However, their remit is not always clear and varies in different settings. In 2005, UK mental health rehabilitation practitioners were asked what they thought their services were for. Responses were collated into the following definition: 'A whole systems approach to recovery from mental illness that maximizes an individual's quality of life and social inclusion by encouraging their skills, promoting independence and autonomy in order to give them hope for the future and which leads to successful community living through appropriate support ' (Killaspy et al., 2005) .