Winners of the 2007 Cambridgeshire and Peterborough
Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust
Good Practice Award for Partnerships

Cambs & P'Boro Foundation Trust
Time to Change

Recovery Starts Here

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Recovery from the disabling effects of being diagnosed with a mental health problem is possible. It means different things to different people and can be achieved in many different ways.

This website is aimed to be a resource for everyone who is interested in recovery, whether they be service users and survivors, the people they love or the professional and voluntary staff paid to offer treatment and support.

Opinions about recovery and how to get there are diverse as the following excerpts demonstrate:

“It was not until I left the system that the recovery process really got underway in my life. It was as if the system had no expectation of me recovering, instead the emphasis was on maintenance. I am not saying that those who worked in the system did not care for me, they did. They clothed me, fed me, housed me and ensured that I took my medication. What they did not do was consider the possibility that I could return to being the person I once was.” (Ron Coleman 1999)

“My journey of recovery is still ongoing. I still struggle with symptoms, grieve the losses that I have sustained…I am also involved in self-help and mutual support and I still use professional services including medications, psychotherapy, and hospitals. However, now I do not just take medications or go to the hospital. I have learned to use medications and to use the hospital. This is the active stance that is the hallmark of the recovery process.” (Deegan 1996)

Despite differing opinion there is consensus about what recovery is and what it isn’t.
Recovery is:

• It is personal, individual and unique
• It is about hope and belief
• It is about acceptance
• It is about valuing ourselves and our experience
• It is about using our skills, talents and personal resources
• It is about using support that is empowering not disabling
• It is about taking control back and taking responsibility
• It is about making new relationships and maybe repairing old ones
• It is about sharing our stories with others to help them
• It is about using our energies, passion and anger in a positive way
• It is about challenging stigma and discrimination

……… And what it isn’t:

• It is not about giving up or giving in
• It is not about relying on others (including mental health professionals) to have all the answers.
• It is not about blaming ourselves or feeling ashamed about the traumas that still cause us pain and distress
• It is about not accepting the labels, stereotypes or prognoses of doom
• It is not about defining ourselves as less than the whole people we are

We want the site to develop and attract the broad range of views. We need your feedback and suggestions for improvement.

This site contains links to other websites. Working Together for Recovery does not assume any responsibility for other providers, or the content of their websites. Hypertext links are not to be taken as an endorsement of such websites.

Last revised 4 March 2007

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