To be detained under the Mental Health Act individuals need to be suffering from a mental disorder, the nature or degree of which warrants detention in hospital on the grounds of their health and/or the risk they present to themselves and/or the risk they present to others.[1] The AMHP's role includes arranging for the assessment of the person concerned by two medical practitioners who must be independent of each other and at least one of whom should be a specialist in mental health, called being 'section 12 approved' under section 12 of the Mental Health Act 1983. Preferably one of the medical assessors should have previous acquaintance with the person being assessed. Efforts should be made to seek less restrictive alternatives to detention if it is safe and appropriate to do so, such as using an individuals's own support networks, in line with the principle of care in the least restrictive environment.[2] AMHP's are expected to take account of factors such as gender, culture, ethnicity, age, sexuality and disability in their assessments.[2] Efforts should be also made to overcome any communication barriers, such as deafness or the assessors and the assessed not sharing a language, and an interpreter may be required.