What is recovery?
Recovery in mental health is a term used to describe how people who have been diagnosed with severe mental disorders manage and overcome their mental health challenges. Recovery is different for each individual, as it is a deeply personal process.
The reason why a recovery focus in mental health care provision has come to prominence today is that the World Health Organisation has recognised the findings from long term studies that show that up to 70% of those diagnosed with schizophrenia AND 80% of those diagnosed with bipolar disorders recover or improve significantly. Many people live in their own homes, have a job, rear children, are involved in meaningful activities, have friends they can count on and have slight or no impairments.
The Vision for Change Report published by the Department of Health in 2006, promotes the development of services in a way that puts the service user’s recovery at the heart of the picture, as the starting point from which everything else follows. Not only will this cause a shift in focus of the relationship between clinicians and service users, but it will also shape how services are planned, structured and delivered.
Recovery has been described as:
“The belief that it is possible for all service users to achieve control over their lives, to recover their self-esteem, and move towards building a life where they experience a sense of belonging and participation“.
“For some service users, recovery may mean developing personal resources to live well in the presence of mental health problems; for others it may be about overcoming symptoms as defined by the traditional model of illness. Consequently, what recovery means for a person is best defined by the individual within the context of their personal wishes, dreams and capabilities” (Vision for Change 2006 pg.105).
Mary Ellen Copeland who as a service user developed a recovery programme known as WRAP to assist users of services in their recovery journey, has found that Key to Recovery is that people experience:
- Hope
- Self-Responsibility
- Education
- Self-Advocacy
- Support
The EOLAS programme with its focus on recovery, promotes these key aspects through enabling shared learning, providing information on mental health issues and suggesting practical coping strategies for managing mental health challenges.
Links to helpful recovery resources
The list below contains links to some helpful resources that may be useful for recovery
- Console 24/7 Suicide Helpline (formerly known as 1Life)
- Bodywhys
- Health Service Executive (HSE)
- Headline
- Mental Health Ireland
- Mental Health Reform (previously the Irish Mental Health Coalition)
- MyMind
- National Office for Suicide Prevention (NOSP)
- Pieta House
- Reach Out
- Social Anxiety Ireland
- St. Patrick’s University Hospital
- Teen Between
- The Family Support Network
- The National Suicide Research Foundation
- The Samaritans
- Turn2Me
- Your Mental Health
- Shine Online
- Aware.ie
- Grow.ie
- Seechange.ie
- The Mental Health Commission
- Irish Advocacy Network
- MyMind
- Renew Ireland
- rethink.org
- www.connectcounselling.ie
- SOS.ie
- Survive.ie
- Bodywhys – The Eating Disorder Association of Ireland
- The Carer’s Association
- CMH Carers – Central Mental Hospital Carers Group
- Console – Bereaved by Suicide Foundation
- EUFAMI- European Federation of Associations of Families of People with Mental Illness
- Headline – National Media Monitoring Programme
- Headstrong – National Centre for Youth Mental Health
- Iris – Early Intervention in Psychosis
- Lean On Me – Encourage People to Discuss Depression
- Living Links – Outreach Support to the Suicide Bereaved
- Living Works – Suicide Intervention
- Mental Health Ireland
- Mental Health Reform
- Mental Health Support – Family Support for Psychosis
- NDA – National Disability Authority
- National Institute for Mental Health
- OCD Ireland – Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
- Overcoming – Self-help Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
- Pieta House – Preventing Suicide & Self-harm
- Turn2Me
- Your Mental Health
- Teen Between
- The Samaritans
- Sane – Meeting the challenge of Mental Illness
- Spunout – Youth Website
- Talkaboutit – Suicide Awareness Group
- Teen Line – Helpline for Young Adults
- Turn to Me – A lifeline online
- Your Mental Health
- Reach Out
- Social Anxiety Ireland
PROMOTING POSITIVE MENTAL HEALTH