Educational outcomes of Discovery College participation for young people
| Date | 13 August 2018 |
| Pages | 195-202 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/MHSI-07-2018-0024 |
| Published date | 13 August 2018 |
| Author | Liza Hopkins,Glenda Pedwell,Stuart Lee |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Mental health,Social inclusion |
Educational outcomes of Discovery
College participation for young people
Liza Hopkins, Glenda Pedwell and Stuart Lee
Abstract
Purpose –The purposeof this paper is to understand why young peopleand adults enrolled in co-produced,
co-received Discovery College (a youth-focused Recovery College) courses, what their experience of
participating was,and whether attitudes towards educationchanged as a result of course participation.
Design/methodology/approach –The study used a pre- and post-participation survey to assess both the
qualitative experience of participants in Discovery College courses, along with a quantitative component
measuring change in attitudes to education and learning opportunities.
Findings –The project found that participating in Discovery College benefitted young people through: an
improved attitude towards education; and greater likelihood of participating in future study after completing a
Discovery College course. People who participated in Discovery College courses, both young people and
adults were positive about their experiences with the college and experienced positive attitude change.
This work demonstrates the importance of Discovery College as part of a holistic approach to the care of
young people with mental illness.
Originality/value –This paper reports on one of the first evaluations of youth-focused Recovery Colleges
globally. It provides evidence of the effectiveness of the Recovery College model for a youth cohort.
Keywords Mental health, Recovery, Youth, Discovery College
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The rise of the recovery focus in mental health has seen a rapid, recent shift in some mental
health services (Slade et al., 2014; Warner, 2009). Evidence of this shift may be seen in the
development of Recovery Colleges, which offer participants an opportunity to come together as
both providers and consumers of mental health services, learning collaboratively and focussing
on each individual’s personal strengths, interests and hopes (Burhouse et al., 2015). Key defining
features of the Recovery College approach include the way in which all aspects of each course
are co-produced and co-delivered by people with lived experience of mental illness working
together as equals with mental health and education professionals (Perkins et al., 2012;
McGregor et al., 2014). Courses in Recovery Colleges are usually designed to improve
knowledge of mental health experiences and increase self-awareness, enabling students to
improve their own self-management. Courses are all designed to be co-received, with mental
health consumers, family members and professional staff coming together to learn new
perspectives, in which one way of knowing is not privileged over other ways. Developing and
implementing Recovery Colleges in existing mental health services offers an opportunity to
re-orient clinical services to have more of a recovery focus.
As Recovery Colleges are relatively new, published research is currently limited (McGregor et al.,
2014). Available evidence suggests that their establishment can be beneficial in promoting the
recovery journeyof individuals and the recovery orientationof mental health services implementing
them (Perkins et al., 2012).Student feedback from participants has been reported to be positive
(Meddings et al., 2015). Personal recovery gains were also reported by students which included
feeling better able to control their own recovery and improved confidence and self-esteem.
Liza Hopkins is Evaluation and
Research Development Officer
and Glenda Pedwell is
Manager, both at
Headspace, Alfred Health,
Melbourne, Australia.
Stuart Lee is based at the
Department of Psychiatry, Alfred
Health, Melbourne, Australia;
and at the Central Clinical
School, Monash University,
Melbourne, Australia.
DOI 10.1108/MHSI-07-2018-0024 VOL. 22 NO. 4 2018, pp. 195-202, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 2042-8308
j
MENTALHEALTH AND SOCIAL INCLUSION
j
PAG E 19 5
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