Personal recovery and mental illness : a guide for mental health professionals

Mental illness and recovery -- Overview of the book -- Nature of mental illness -- What is recovery? -- Primacy of personal recovery -- Epistemological rationale -- Ethical rationale -- Effectiveness rationale -- Empowerment rationale -- Policy rationale -- Recovery-focused mental health services -- Personal recovery framework -- Fostering relationships with a higher being -- Fostering close relationships -- Peer relationships -- Professional relationships -- Promoting well-being -- Foundations of a recovery-focused mental health service -- Assessment -- Action planning -- Supporting the development of self-management skills -- Contribution of medication to recovery -- Contribution of risk-taking to recovery -- Recovery through crisis -- Recognising a recovery focus in mental health services -- Improving social inclusion -- Challenges -- Concerns held by clinicians -- Concerns held by consumers -- Organisational transformation.

Recovery is a concept which has emerged from the experiences of people with mental illness. It involves a shift away from traditional clinical preoccupations such as managing risk and avoiding relapse, towards new priorities of supporting the person in working towards their own goals and taking responsibility for their own life. This book sets an agenda for mental health services internationally, by converting these ideas of recovery into an action plan for professionals. The underlying principles are explored, and five reasons identified for why supporting recovery should be the primary goal. A new conceptual basis for mental health services is described - the Personal Recovery Framework - which gives primacy to the person over the illness, and identifies the contribution of personal and social identity to recovery. These are brought to life through twenty-six case studies from around the world.