Creative practice as mutual recovery in mental health
| Date | 21 June 2013 |
| Published date | 21 June 2013 |
| Pages | 55-64 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/MHRJ-11-2012-0031 |
| Author | Paul Crawford,Lydia Lewis,Brian Brown,Nick Manning |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care |
Creative practice as mutual recovery
in mental health
Paul Crawford, Lydia Lewis, Brian Brown and Nick Manning
Paul Crawford is based in
Nursing, Midwifery &
Physiotherapy at
The University of Nottingham,
Nottingham, UK.
Lydia Lewis is based at
Education Futures,
Wolverhampton University,
Wolverhampton, UK.
Brian Brown is based in Health
and Life Sciences at
De Montfort University,
Leicester, UK.
Nick Manning is based at the
Institute of Mental Health,
The University of Nottingham,
Nottingham, UK.
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the value of approaches to mental health based on
creative practice in the humanities and arts, and explore these in relation to the potential contribution to
mutual recovery.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper is a conceptual analysis and literature review.
Findings – Recovery can embrace carers and practitioners as well as sufferers from mental health
problems. Divisions tend to exist between those with mental health needs, informal carers and health, social
care and education personnel. Mutual recovery is therefore a very useful term because it instigates a more
fully social understanding of mental health recovery processes, encompassing diverse actors in the field of
mental health. Research demonstrates the importance of arts for “recovery orientated mental health
services”, how they provide ways of breaking down social barriers, of expressing and understanding
experiences and emotions, and of helping to rebuild identities and communities. Similarly, the humanities
can advance the recovery of health and well-being.
Originality/value – The notion of mutual recovery through creative practice is more than just a set of
creative activities which are believed to have benefit. The idea is also a heuristic that can be useful to
professionals and family members, as well as individuals with mental health problems themselves. Mutual
recovery is perhaps best seen as a relational construct, offering new opportunities to build egalitarian,
appreciative and substantively connected communities – resilient communities of mutual hope, compassion
and solidarity.
Keywords Mental health, Recovery,Mutuality, Health humanities, Arts, Humanities, Mental health services
Paper type Research paper
This paper discusses how creative practice in the arts and humanities might promote the kinds
of connectedness and reciprocity that support “mutual recovery” in terms of mental health and
well-being. The idea of “mutual recovery” extends out of the increasingly influential notion of
“recovery” in mental healthcare, and refers to the possibility of achieving a meaningful and more
resilient life irrespective of mental health “symptoms” or disabilities. Typically, however,recovery-
based initiatives have so far tended to focus exclusively on people identified as having mental
health needs (service users) and overlook how hard-pressed informal carers and health, social
care and education personnel may also need to “recover” or be “recovered” in terms of their
own mental health and well-being too. The idea of mutuality as a key factor in recovery
originated in the self-help movements of the early twentieth century (White, 1998) but our
version of the phrase “mutual recovery” seeks to extend the notion to the wider social networks
of informal carers, volunteers and practitioners within which those identified as having a mental
disorder are embedded. Our central hypothesis is that creative practice could be a powerful tool
for bringing together a range of social actors and communities of practice in the field of mental
health, encompassing a diversity of people with mental health needs, informal carers and
health, social care and education personnel, to establish and connect communities in a mutual
or reciprocal fashion to enhance mental health and well-being. Whilst there is no standard
definition of the term informal carer (and some may resent the term “informal” when it requires a
The authors would like to thank
their many team members and
colleagues who have contributed to
the development of a research
programme investigating creative
practice as mutual recovery:
Charley Baker, Gene Beresin, Alan
Bleakley, Debbie Butler,Sarah
Chapman, David Crepaz-Keay,
Tony Devaney,Katherine
Ecclestone, Susan Hogan, Fu Hua,
Nelya Koteyko, Rosie Perkins,
Helen Spandler, Jerry Tew, Aaron
Williamon, Michael Wilson and
Gary Winship.
DOI 10.1108/MHRJ-11-2012-0031 VOL. 18 NO. 2 2013, pp. 55-64, CEmerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 1361-9322
j
MENTAL HEALTH REVIEW JOURNAL
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PAGE 55
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