Transformative learning.

Abstract

The whole point of teaching and training is to have the learners leave in some way different from how they came in-more skilled, more knowledgeable, more self-aware. Transformative learning refers to dramatic change, where the learner achieves a shift in perspective. This shift results from a critical examination of one's own assumptions, values, and beliefs, and of the foundations and expectations of the system in which one operates. Educators are in the change business, and educators focused on implementing psychiatric rehabilitation, recovery-oriented services, and person-centered planning are in the transformative learning business. The shift from a traditional medical model to a recovery perspective, the shift from "illness" to "disability" to "wellness," and the shift from risk prevention to promoting opportunities for growth all require "standing outside ourselves" and looking at a "stark and highlighted picture" of the all-too-common status quo of mental health services today. With the right approach, learners can be developed, encouraged, disrupted, and transformed.