Recovery
Recovery refers to the real-life experiences people have as they move away from poor mental health towards good mental health. People can, and often do recover from significant poor mental health, or severe mental illness.
Factors that support recovery
A wide variety of factors can influence a person’s recovery. These can include:
- Having supportive social networks including friends and family, work colleagues and support groups.
- Playing a meaningful role in society. This can include new employment opportunities or a gradual return to work, learning new skills, and voluntary work.
Recovery can also be impacted by medication and the treatments available, as well as the willingness and ability to take up the opportunities available - in order to get better, a person has got to want to get better!
Poor mental health affects everyone differently, and for some, recovery can be a long-term process, and there maybe set-backs along the way.
Recovery is about a person discovering for themselves what brings meaning to their life - this can be different for everyone. Recovery is also about discovering, or re-discovering a sense of identity which goes beyond a diagnosis - recovery involves moving towards resilience, developing personal strengths, and wellbeing.
Recovery provides an empowering message of hope. Regardless of symptoms, people with poor mental health, or with diagnosed mental health conditions, should have every opportunity to lead a satisfying and fulfilling life.
People don’t recover in isolation; social inclusion and local communities are the key to long-term recovery. The attitudes and beliefs that society holds about mental illness have a powerful effect on a person’s experience and their ability to recover.
This means mental health is everyone’s business!
