A Recovery-Oriented Mental Health System
A mental health services system that is guided by the recovery vision incorporates the critical services of a community support system organized around the rehabilitation model’s description of the impact of severe mental illness—all under the umbrella of the recovery vision. In a recovery-oriented mental health system, each essential service is analyzed with respect to its capacity to ameliorate people’s impairment, dysfunction, disability, and disadvantage.
A mental health services system that is guided by the recovery vision incorporates the critical services of a community support system organized around the rehabilitation model’s description of the impact of severe mental illness—all under the umbrella of the recovery vision. In a recovery-oriented mental health system, each essential service is analyzed with respect to its capacity to ameliorate people’s impairment, dysfunction, disability, and disadvantage.
provides an overview of the major consumer outcome focus of the essential community support system of services. The services mainly directed at the impairment are the traditional “clinical” services, which in a recovery-oriented system deal with only a part of the impact of severe mental illness (i.e., the symptoms). Major recovery may occur without complete symptom relief. That is, a person may still experience major episodes of symptom exacerbation, yet have significantly restored task and role performance and/or removed significant opportunity barriers. From a recovery perspective, those successful outcomes may have led to the growth of new meaning and purpose in the person’s life.
Recovery-oriented system planners see the mental health system as greater than the sum of its parts. There is the possibility that efforts to affect the impact of severe mental illness positively can do more than leave the person less impaired, less dysfunctional, less disabled, and less disadvantaged.
These interventions can leave a person not only with “less,” but with “more”—more meaning, more purpose, more success, and more satisfaction with one’s life. The possibility exists that the outcomes can be more than the specific service outcomes of, for example, symptom management and relief, role functioning, services accessed, entitlements assured, etc.
While these outcomes are the raison d’être of each service, each may also contribute in unknown ways to recovery from mental illness. A provider of specific services recognizes, for example, that symptoms are alleviated not only to reduce discomfort, but also because symptoms may inhibit recovery; that crises are controlled not only to assure personal safety, but also because crises may destroy opportunities for recovery; that rights protection not only assures legal entitlements, but also that entitlements can support recovery. As mentioned previously, recovery outcomes include more subjective outcomes such as self-esteem, empowerment, and selfdetermination.
Recovery-oriented system planners see the mental health system as greater than the sum of its parts. There is the possibility that efforts to affect the impact of severe mental illness positively can do more than leave the person less impaired, less dysfunctional, less disabled, and less disadvantaged.
These interventions can leave a person not only with “less,” but with “more”—more meaning, more purpose, more success, and more satisfaction with one’s life. The possibility exists that the outcomes can be more than the specific service outcomes of, for example, symptom management and relief, role functioning, services accessed, entitlements assured, etc.
While these outcomes are the raison d’être of each service, each may also contribute in unknown ways to recovery from mental illness. A provider of specific services recognizes, for example, that symptoms are alleviated not only to reduce discomfort, but also because symptoms may inhibit recovery; that crises are controlled not only to assure personal safety, but also because crises may destroy opportunities for recovery; that rights protection not only assures legal entitlements, but also that entitlements can support recovery. As mentioned previously, recovery outcomes include more subjective outcomes such as self-esteem, empowerment, and selfdetermination.
