Book excerpt: The Camberwell Assessment of Need for Mothers (CAN-M) is a tool for assessing the needs of pregnant women and mothers with severe mental illness. It is a modification of the Camberwell Assessment of Need, the most widely used needs assessment for people with severe mental health problems. Comprehensive versions are included for research and for clinical use, as well as a short summary version suitable for both clinical and research use. The CAN-M has been rigorously developed by a multidisciplinary team at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, and is suitable for use in mental health, obstetric and primary care settings. This book includes a review of the needs of pregnant women and mothers with severe mental illness, the rating scales, descriptions of how they were developed and their psychometric properties, administration details, a full training programme, guidance on scoring and blank assessment forms (for all three versions) for photocopying.