What is Recovery?
Shepherd, Boardman and Slade 2008
0300 5000 927 & advice@rethink.org - our advice team provide mental health information & advice on practical problems from Monday to Friday 10am – 1pm.
Recovery as a concept is about the process of building a meaningful life as defined by the person with a mental health problem themselves.
There are four key component processes suggested:
- Finding and maintaining hope
- The re-establishment of a positive identity
- Finding meaning in life
- Taking responsibility for one’s life
Recovery is often talked about in two different meanings: clinical recovery and personal recovery.
Both are important to people experiencing mental health problems, but they have different histories and involve different approaches.
Clinical Recovery
Clinical recovery is an idea that has emerged from the expertise of mental health professionals, and involves getting rid of symptoms, restoring social functioning, and in other ways ‘getting back to normal’.
Personal recovery
Personal recovery is an idea that has emerged from the expertise of people with lived experienced of mental illness. It focuses on the process of building a meaningful life as defined by the person themselves.
In Rethink we work to ensure that people are provided with appropriate therapy and support to reduce or take away symptoms or mental illness.
However, the focus on recovery directs attention to the importance of personal recovery to assist people living a meaningful life, even when experiencing enduring or fluctuating mental health problems.
