Psychologically Informed Environments from the ground up

This book is the first full and detailed account of the development of 'psychologically informed environments' (PIEs) - an inspirational new approach that has been described as 'transformative' for services in the UK dealing with complex psychological and emotional needs. In many fields such as homelessness work, the thinking and learning that this book summarizes has been breaking new ground.

Where many services are attempting to become more 'trauma informed', or to work towards recovery principles, or use positive psychology and constructive engagement with their service users, this book shows how to put these approaches into practice.

Written by the leading expert on the subject, the book covers: The spirit and context of this new way of working
Five core themes in what helps make for a PIE, and their application in practice
Advice for managers on introducing the PIE approach in services
Some more useful questions to ask (and answer)
Approaches and processes for identifying progress
Ways to keeping the dynamism and future proofing of the content here


The book charts the way that this new thinking is being adopted now across a wide range of contexts and services. It may be essential reading for all those working in, training for or managing teams and services for people with more complex psychological and emotional needs.

In the spirit of innovation and constant co-evolution of ideas and practice that is typical or PIEs, the book itself is designed to have chapters paired with matching pages on the PIElink - the on-line community of practice website for PIEs- where new developments are discussed on-line and in real time. This linkage gives the book a dynamic relationship with emerging practice.

There is also a companion volume, 'Unfinished business : further essays on psychologically informed environments', with a more in-depth exploration for a more advanced audience.