The making of a film about recovery
| Published date | 25 May 2012 |
| Pages | 72-78 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/20428301211232478 |
| Date | 25 May 2012 |
| Author | Jerome Carson,Michelle McNary,Paul Wolfson,Frank Holloway |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care |
The making of a film about recovery
Jerome Carson, Michelle McNary, Paul Wolfson and Frank Holloway
Abstract
Purpose – The aim of this paper is to describe how the authors made a film about recovery.
Design/methodology/approach – A number of service users were auditioned for the Recovery Film
and four chosen to participate. The film was directed and edited by the second author who has lived
experience of mental health problems.
Findings – Five main themes are covered in the film: the experience of being mentally ill; causes of
peoples’ mental illness; personal definitions of recovery; what helps people; and the process of recovery
for each of the four participants.
Originality/value – The Recovery Film was short-listed for a Mind Media Award, has been shown at a
number of national conferences and is available on the internet.
Keywords Recovery, Hope, Service users, Recovery film, Mental illness, Mental health services
Paper type Viewpoint
How the film came about
Michelle had been receiving cognitive behaviour therapy from a number of clinical
psychology trainees, who were working under Jerome’s clinical supervision. As this work
had reached something of an impasse, Jerome offered to see Michelle himself. At one of
their first sessions, Michelle said that she wanted to write a script about her experiences as
an inpatient. She was, however,having difficulty getting this written. It seemed to Jerome that
maybe she was too close to the story to be able to write fluently at this stage. He suggested
instead that she consider making a film about recovery. They were both enthused by this
idea, yet how to make it happen?
From a professional point of view, Jerome felt he needed to get support from a fellow
colleague, and so he approached Dr Frank Holloway, a former colleague and personal
friend. Frank not only agreed to join in, but also suggested inviting Dr Paul Wolfson to
become a part of the project team. Paul was a fellow consultant psychiatrist, who had not
only written on the topic of recovery (Roberts and Wolfson, 2004), but also had previous
experience as a scriptwriter. We had a project team, but no money.
As a project group we decided that we wanted to feature onlyservice users in the film, but no
mental health professionals. We wanted to only present the service user’sexperience. As the
Social Perspectives Network (2007) paper rhetorically asks, ‘‘Whose recovery is it anyway?’’.
It is of course the service users’ recovery.
To try and secure funding for the project, Jerome then approached Jill Lockett, who was the
Trust business manager at that time. Jerome went to meet with Jill and Dan Charlton, the
Trust Head of Communications. Not only were they interested in the idea of a film, they knew
exactly what they were looking for. They wanted a 20 minute film that could be downloaded
free from the internet. Following this meeting, Michelle and Jerome set about drawing up
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MENTAL HEALTHAND SOCIAL INCLUSION
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VOL. 16 NO. 2 2012, pp. 72-78, QEmerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 2042-8308 DOI 10.1108/20428301211232478
Jerome Carson, Michelle
McNary, Paul Wolfson and
Frank Holloway are based
in London, UK.
In addition to those mentioned
in the text, the authors would
also like to thank Russell
Guthrie, Stuart Bell, Patrick
Gillespie, Vicky Partakis,
Richard Gibb, Phil Jackson,
Marcus McNary, Carden Taft,
John Gidley, Les Bell, Lucien
Hoare, Beth Elliott, Linda Biggs
and Mark Sutherland for their
help in making the film. They
are indebted to Dolly, Gordon,
Ben and James for sharing their
stories. Without them there
would have been no film.
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