Recovery-oriented support work: the perspective of people with lived experience

Pages457-468
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/JMHTEP-02-2018-0011
Date24 October 2019
Published date24 October 2019
AuthorDagmar Narusson,Jean Pierre Wilken
Subject MatterHealth & social care,Mental health,Mental health education
Recovery-oriented support work:
the perspective of people with
lived experience
Dagmar Narusson and Jean Pierre Wilken
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to focus on individuals who experience mental health difficulties
with the services they receive from support workersas part of a personal recovery model, this study will
obtain individuals reflections, experiences and opinions on how support helps them stay well and facilitates
their personal recovery process. Recovery is seen through the lens of the CHIME framework
(ConnectednessHopeIdentityMeaningEmpowerment).
Design/methodology/approach The sample size included 13 people who experience mental health
difficulties and are receiving support from mental health care services. The structured interview was designed
based on the INSPIRE measurement and the CHIME framework structure. The qualitative content analyses,
discursive framing approach and CHIME as a framework made it possible to examine the key activities of
recovery-oriented support work revealed in the data.
Findings Participants valued the enhancement of hope provided by support workers and also expressed it
was important as they were non-judgemental. Identity and meaning in recovery could be enhanced by
sharing powerful stories about the individualsown life and health experiences, and those of support workers
or others. Inclusive behaviour in public spaces and trying out new interest-based activities together were
considered as empowering.
Originality/value This research helps to understand the value of personal recovery support activities
given the societal changes (tension between survival vs self-expression values) and highlights the need for
value-based recovery-oriented education and practice.
Keywords Personal recovery, Recovery-oriented activities
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The aim of this paper is to obtain individuals experiences who have mental health difficulties and
how they perceive the support given by mental health professionals, for the purpose of this
study, professionals are known as support workersand is facilitated through a personal
recovery journey. Personal recovery is understood as a process or a continuum, subjectively
defined and rated by the person experiencing the mental health difficulties, who is considered the
expert on his or her recovery; recovery means different things to different people, although
there are aspects that many people share(Slade and Wallace, 2017, p. 25). This study is using
the personal recovery framework known as CHIME (Leamy et al., 2011), the structure of five
interconnected categories: Connectedness, Hope and optimism about the future, Identity,
Meaning in life and Empowerment (Brijnath, 2015, p. 660) which provides a comprehensive
(synthesised) description. The CHIME framework has been viewed as an effort to systematise
and develop a trans-theoretical model of the recovery process (Duff, 2016; Piat et al., 2017),
which provides a framework for measurement (Shanks et al., 2013) and a focus for mental health
services that support personal recovery (Slade et al., 2012; Slade, 2010). This study is focusing
on the Estonian mental health services who deliver the enhance personal recovery service and
Received 12 February 2018
Revised 9 April 2019
31 August 2019
1 September 2019
Accepted 1 September 2019
Dagmar Narusson is based at
the Institute of Social Sciences,
University of Tartu,
Tartu, Estonia.
Jean Pierre Wilken is based at
the Research Centre for Social
Innovation, Hogeschool
Utrecht, Utrecht,
The Netherlands.
DOI 10.1108/JMHTEP-02-2018-0011 VOL. 14 NO. 6 2019, pp. 457-468, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1755-6228
j
THE JOURNAL OF MENTALHEALTH TRAINING, EDUCATION AND PRACTICE
j
PAGE457

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