A voyage of discovery: setting up a recovery college in a secure setting
| Date | 14 March 2016 |
| Pages | 29-35 |
| Published date | 14 March 2016 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/MHSI-06-2015-0025 |
| Author | Elizabeth Frayn,Joanna Duke,Helen Smith,Philip Wayne,Glenn Roberts |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Mental health,Social inclusion |
A voyage of discovery: setting up a
recovery college in a secure setting
Elizabeth Frayn, Joanna Duke, Helen Smith, Philip Wayne and Glenn Roberts
Elizabeth Frayn is Consultant
Psychiatrist at Exeter CMHT,
Devon Partnership Trust,
Exeter, UK.
Joanna Duke is based at
Occupational Therapy,
Langdon Hospital,
Dawlish, UK.
Helen Smith is Medical Director
at Connelly House, Langdon
Hospital, Dawlish, UK.
Philip Wayne is based at
Discovery Centre, Langdon
Hospital, Dawlish, UK.
Glenn Roberts is Independent
Psychiatrist at Exeter, UK.
Abstract
Purpose –The potential transformative role of recovery colleges is well-documented in community mental
health settings. The purpose of this paper is to reproduce the principles of the recovery college approach in a
forensic setting in Devon.
Design/methodology/approach –This paper describes the inaugural two-year development process,
from ideas to a functioning service, accessible to patients in both medium secure, low and open settingson
the Langdon hospital site, drawing on qualitative accounts from staff and service users involved.
Findings –Creatingand maintaining an educationalspace within the forensic environmentwhere people have
real choices to learn and work on their recovery is possible and valued by service users andclinicians alike.
Originality/value –Langdon was one of the first forensic hospitals in the UK to introduce a recovery
college, and the report of the positive impact and challenges involved may be useful to others setting out
on this journey.
Keywords Forensic psychiatry, Recovery education, Secure hospital
Paper type Case study
Introduction
Recovery learning colleges originated in the USA, spreading to the UK in the last five years.
Perkins, Repper and colleagues drew on their experiences initiating the approach to produce an
influential briefing paper (Perkins et al., 2012) and work-stream. So far this has led to the
development of more than 20 recovery colleges, largely in NHS Trusts, where they have been
successful and warmly welcomed (McGregor et al., 2014; Zucchelli and Skinner (2013),
Meddings et al., 2015).
The defining features of recovery colleges, as described by Perkins et al. (2012) are set out in
Box 1. The approach embodies the core principles of recovery-focused services, with an
emphasis on self-efficacy and self-management, inspiration and hope provided by learning from
others with similar experiences.
Barriers to the introduction of recovery-focused services are high in secure services. The dual
roles of containing risk, and helping individuals move on with their life, present tensions and
challenges not necessarily present in community mental health settings (Dorkins and Adshead,
2011; Mann et al., 2014; Mezey and Eastman, 2009). By their very nature, forensic settings are
restrictive, with an inescapable sense of power imbalance and fixed hierarchy. In their sensitive
interviews with Broadmoor patients, Moore et al. (2012) quote one patient saying “It’s hard to
relax or be yourself when you are always being watched, analysed”.
Yet nowhere is a recovery-focused approach more important. Drennan and Wooldridge (2014)
describe people in forensic settings as “doubly stigmatised”by their contact with the criminal
Grateful thanks to all at Langdon
Hospital who have worked so hard
to make the Discovery Centre
a success.
DOI 10.1108/MHSI-06-2015-0025 VOL. 20 NO. 1 2016, pp. 29-35, © Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 2042-8308
j
MENTALHEALTH AND SOCIAL INCLUSION
j
PAG E 29
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