In this volume two papers are presented which focus on the practice of Assertive Outreach Teams (AOT) in the United Kingdom. In chapter 1 of this volume a review of the literature on Assertive Outreach Teams in the UK is presented. This review focuses on studies from the UK as it is argued that generalizations cannot be made from USA based studies. This is followed in Chapter 2 by an empirical study on the relationship between the factors of shame, stigma, engagement and ethnicity in AOTs in Birmingham. This study investigated whether black clients and white clients differed with respect to how engaged they were with services, and what role the factors of shame and stigma play in his.