Recovery-oriented Mental Health Research Articles

Psychometric examination of care quality measures in VA psychosocial rehabilitation and recovery centers (PRRCs).

The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) developed Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Recovery Centers (PRRCs) to enhance recovery-oriented mental health services to large populations of veterans diagnosed with serious mental illness (e.g., psychotic disorders, bipolar disorder) and significant functional challenges. Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Recovery Centers were designed to support a rehabilitation framework to help veterans obtain needed skills and support to integrate into meaningful, self-determined community roles. This study used data collected as part of VHA's development and implementation of a national system to monitor PRRC performance with the purpose of evaluating the psychometric properties and latent structure of outcome measures used in PRRCs. Baseline self-report data from 5,086 veterans and their assigned PRRC staff providers were collected and reviewed. Exploratory factor analyses were used to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Veteran-Rated Psychiatric Symptom Items (VR-PSI), the Clinician-Rated Psychiatric Symptom Items (CR-PSI), and the Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness 10-item scale (ISMI-10). Four latent factors were identified for the VR-PSI and CR-PSI for the total sample, while the ISMI-10 was reduced to 8-items to assess self-stigma as a unitary measure. All measures demonstrated good psychometric properties. This study provides initial support for the latent factor structures and psychometric properties of measures used to assess national VHA PRRC performance. Implications and limitations are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Well-being and needs of Malay carers of people with mental illness in Singapore.

Despite the importance of carers supporting the lives of people with mental illness, there are limited studies investigating the well-being and needs of Malay carers in multicultural Singapore. The Malays consist of 13.4% of Singapore's population. A mixed methods qualitative dominant research approach was used to explore the well-being and needs of Malay carers in a voluntary welfare organisation. The Kessler-10, Friendship Scale and Carers' and Users' Expectations of Services-Carer version were used to assess the needs and well-being of 17 Malay carers. Findings show that Malay carers experienced poor well-being and had numerous unmet needs. Four main themes were found: (a) Concerns related to relatives with mental illness, (b) Mental health practices related to carers, (c) Holistic support for carers and (d) Preference for greater spiritual support in mental health. Recovery-oriented mental health practice implications are discussed. Spirituality of Malay carers needs to be given greater consideration in recovery-oriented mental health services.

The recovery model in chronic mental health: A community-based investigation of social identity processes

The recovery model has been enormously influential in shaping mental health services globally over the last two decades. However, empirical research on its outcomes and psychological mechanisms is sparse. This community-based case study utilised both semi-structured qualitative interviews and quantitative survey methods to investigate perceptions of recovery, identity, and wellbeing among people with chronic and severe mental illness attending recovery-oriented support groups. Consistent with a social identity approach and the recovery model, to the extent that people identified as “in recovery”, they reported better recovery outcomes (e.g., sense of purpose) and reduced psychological distress. Furthermore, recovery identity more strongly predicted recovery outcomes than it did psychological distress. Both the quantitative and qualitative data pointed to collective efficacy (i.e., group-based empowerment) as a key mediator of these outcomes. These findings are consistent with the recovery model and speak to the utility of a social identity approach for conceptualizing its efficacy. However, these findings also speak to the need for further evaluation of how and when recovery-oriented mental health services achieve their intended goal of improving quality of life for people with chronic and severe mental illness.

Exploring the role and impact of group songwriting with multiple stakeholders in recovery-oriented mental health services

ABSTRACT Introduction At the heart of successful operational transformation to recovery-oriented mental health services is the establishment of meaningful, respectful and equitable relationships between multiple “stakeholders” including service users, providers and carers. Group songwriting has a possible role to play in fostering such relationships as it offers opportunities to practice core life skills, adopt new roles, and, encourages respect for the perspectives of others. Method This study explored the potential role and impact of group songwriting in recovery-oriented mental health services. A total of eight service users and one staff member took part in three song-writing focus groups led by a qualified music therapist. Afterwards, semi-structured individual interviews were carried out to explore participants’ personal experiences of focus group participation. Interview transcripts were analysed using Thematic Content Analysis. Results Three original songs were composed in three focus groups. The lyrics reflected themes including (a) mental health service growth, (b) empowerment and freedom during music engagement and (c) empathy for others. Analysis of nine interviews revealed four themes including: “Group songwriting breaks down barriers in ways that help to promote equality,” “Group songwriting offered new perspectives,” “Group songwriting can expose perceived vulnerabilities” and, “Group songwriting may be approached with knowledge of music’s capacity to promote well-being.” Discussion Findings suggest that group songwriting offers stakeholders a meaningful, reciprocal and equitable space that can foster the concept of co-production that is foundational to effective recovery-oriented working in mental health.

Sustainability of Community-Based Specialized Mental Health Services in Five European Countries: Protocol for Five Randomized Controlled Trial-Based Health-Economic Evaluations Embedded in the RECOVER-E Program.

BackgroundCommunity-based recovery-oriented mental health services for people with severe mental disorders have not been fully implemented in Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Romania. The RECOVER-E project facilitates the implementation of specialized mental health care delivered by setting up services, implementing the services, and evaluating multidisciplinary community mental health teams. The outcomes of the RECOVER-E project are assessed in a trial-based outcome evaluation in each of the participating countries with a health-economic evaluation linked to these trials.ObjectiveThe aim of this protocol paper is to describe the methodology that will be used for the health-economic evaluation alongside the trials.MethodsImplementation sites have been selected in each of the five countries where hospital-based mental health services are available (care as usual [CAU]) for patients with severe mental disorders (severe depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and other psychotic disorders). The newly implemented health care system will involve community-based recovery-oriented mental health care (CMHC). At each site, 180 consenting patients will be randomized to either CAU or CMHC. Patient-level outcomes are personal and social functioning and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs). Data on participants’ health care use will be collected and corresponding health care costs will be computed. This enables evaluation of health care costs of CMHC as compared with CAU, and these costs can be related to patient-level outcomes (functioning and QALY gains) in health-economic evaluation.ResultsData collection was started in December 2018 (Croatia), February 2019 (Montenegro), April 2019 (Romania), June 2019 (North Macedonia), and October 2019 (Bulgaria). The findings of the outcome evaluations will be reported for each of the five countries separately, and the five trials will be pooled for multilevel analysis on a combined dataset.ConclusionsThe results of the health-economic evaluation of the RECOVER-E project will contribute to the growing evidence base on the health and economic benefits of recovery-oriented and community-based service models for health systems in transition.Trial Registration(1) ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03922425 (Bulgaria); https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03922425 (2) ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03862209 (Croatia); https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03862209 (3) ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03892473 (Macedonia); https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03892473 (4) ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03837340 (Montenegro); https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03837340 (5) ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03884933 (Romania); https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03884933International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)DERR1-10.2196/17454

Predictors of shared decision making with people who have a serious mental illness and who are under justice supervision in the community

Shared decision making (SDM) can be an effective method for promoting service involvement among persons with serious mental illness (SMI). This survey study sought to identify predictors of positive attitudes toward the use of SDM with people with SMI who are living under probation and parole supervision. Supervising officers' (n = 291) perceptions of the capabilities of supervisees with SMI to contribute to their supervision plans, and their familiarity with recovery-oriented mental health services, were positively associated with attitudes toward using SDM. Training officers in common human goals and mental health recovery may advance SDM with supervisees with SMI.

Is self-directed mental health recovery relevant for children and young people?

Consumer-directed, personal recovery-oriented mental health services are now the focus of mental health policies around the globe. However, there has been minimal debate about how the approach applies to young people. This study sought to address this gap through a Delphi approach, using three rounds of surveys, to gain a convergence of opinion from Australian Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) practitioners regarding the relevance of personal recovery for children and adolescents. The findings suggest that concepts of personal recovery are appropriate for a young population. However, parents and carers are integral to the mental health recovery journeys of young people, either directly as guardian/decision-maker and/or indirectly through the impact of caring for a young person with mental health problems. Further exploration of the relevance and application of personal recovery in the context of young people is warranted, particularly from the perspectives of adolescents, younger children and carers of young people with mental health problems.

Schizophrenia, recovery and the individual-cultural considerations

The concept of recovery in mental health has been embraced by many services across the world. Placing the individual (self) at the core of service delivery constituted a profound shift from service-driven models of care. However, cultures described as individualistic or collectivist may hold very different views of individuality. In cultures with collectivist orientation, the notion of 'individualism' is integrated into the structure and dynamics of the family. The families in such cultures play a major and lifetime role in caring for its members, making decisions and acting in consideration of the welfare of all. The needs and priorities of individuals, especially women, may be superseded by those of their families. This commentary is on the effect of culture on the identity of self in the recovery process and its relevance to mental health care. In multicultural societies like Australia that include Indigenous people, the process of acculturation may be different. For the Indigenous people, the shift was from a collectivist culture to one that was predominantly individualistic. In the provision of recovery-oriented mental health care, there needs to be an awareness of the cultural variations in the relational dynamics of individualism.

From monologue to dialogue in mental health care research: reflections on a collaborative research process

In today’s recovery-oriented mental health care practice and research, the perspectives of service users are considered of great importance. However, academic research into mental health care still mainly produces a scientific monologue in which the researcher (without lived experience) has the last word about the subject’s experiences. A fundamental question that remains underexposed in mental health care research is one of relational ethics: how can these monological dynamics be reshaped into a real dialogue between people with and without lived experience? The aim of the current paper is to reflect on the research process that we, an academic researcher and an expert by experience, have conducted in a co-creative way in order to draw a number of key lessons on dialogical research ethics.

Recovery Attitudes and Recovery Practices Have an Impact on Psychosocial Outreach Interventions in Community Mental Health Care.

The most recent mental health policies implemented in the province of Québec, Canada, have emphasized recovery-oriented mental health practice. Part of this impetus has resulted in significant importance placed on the development of community mental health models in the public health system. The forms of community mental health programs have evolved considerably over time in Québec but are largely inspired by the evidence-based model of Assertive Community Treatment (ACT). However, if mental health policies and programs in Québec are now emphasizing the role of community mental health, it is also clear that actors on the field are implementing the evolving practice paradigms that dominate our mental health policies, such as recovery, participation, citizenship, in a variable way (1, 2). This article presents an ethnographic inspired research study conducted in 2014 and aims to contribute to the understanding of how recovery-oriented mental health policies are understood and implemented in an ACT team in downtown Montréal, Québec. With the aim of developing integrated knowledge on the issue of recovery in mental health and the conditions it presupposes, this research draws on field experiences from various actors, including service users with severe mental health problems, typically with concomitant disorders and complicated by substance use and/or living in a situation of homelessness. Using a critical constructivist approach, the research sought to a) explore how participants (stakeholders, users, and psychiatrists) achieve their social order; b) understand the meaning of recovery in mental health for participants and the actions associated with recovery as a process or as a practice; c) apprehend the potential of community interventions to connect the individual to the collective. The results indicate that the (over)use of medicolegal tools and the unchanging conception of “madness” represent obstacles to the sustained development of interventions centered on the person, his living conditions, and his recovery. Nevertheless, many interactions between service providers and service users indicate the potential for emerging recovery-oriented practice interventions, particularly when those interactions are based on positive and egalitarian conceptions between service providers and service users that led to the development of spaces for the co-construction innovative practice approaches.

A Sociodemographic Profile of Asian Americans Served in Community Mental Health Centers for a Diagnosis of Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorder.

Little is known about Asian Americans treated for serious psychiatric disorders in the public mental health system. We characterized 75 Asian Americans seen at community mental health centers for a diagnosis of schizophrenia spectrum disorder to anticipate likely clients and gain insights into their service needs. Participants completed in-person interviews and self-report questionnaires on their demographic and social characteristics. The ethnically diverse sample featured mostly foreign-born individuals with long-standing schizophrenia. Findings highlighted participants' differential experience of social adversities and stressful events, but also revealed salient cultural resources that shielded some from the social sequelae of schizophrenia. Recovery-oriented mental health programs staffed by culturally and linguistically compatible providers remain key to engaging this marginalized population in service. Findings also uphold a holistic management of schizophrenia spectrum disorder among racial and ethnic minorities, taking into account the complex social needs of afflicted individuals.

Associations between provider communication and personal recovery outcomes

BackgroundThis study examined whether two types of provider communication considered important to quality of care (i.e., shows respect and explains understandably) are associated with mental health outcomes related to personal recovery (i.e., connectedness, hope, internalized stigma, life satisfaction, and empowerment). This study also tested whether these associations varied by the type of provider seen (i.e., mental health professional versus general medical doctor).MethodsThis sample included participants from the 2014 California Well-Being Survey, a representative survey of California residents with probable mental illness, who had recently obtained mental health services (N = 429). Multiple regression was used to test associations between provider communication and personal recovery outcomes and whether these associations were modified by provider type.ResultsProviders showing respect was associated with better outcomes across all five of the personal recovery domains, connectedness (β = 1.12; p < .001), hope (β = 0.72; p < .0001), empowerment (β = 0.38; p < .05), life satisfaction (β = 1.10; p < .001) and internalized stigma (β = − 0.49; p < .05). Associations between provider showing respect and recovery outcomes were stronger among those who had seen a mental health professional only versus a general medical doctor only.ConclusionsRespectful communication may result in greater personal recovery from mental health problems. Respecting consumer perspectives is a hallmark feature of both recovery-oriented services and quality care, yet these fields have operated independently of one another. Greater integration between these two areas could significantly improve recovery-oriented mental health outcomes and quality of care.

Valuing recovery-oriented practice at the interface between mental health services and communities: The role of organisational characteristics and environments.

Implementing recovery-oriented mental health services is a policy priority in many countries. In addition, some governments have prioritised new forms of organising, financing and governing the provision of mental health services with a stronger focus on co-delivery and involving communities. Most research in the recovery field has focused on interventions. There is limited knowledge about the role of organisational characteristics and environments in which people experience recovery. To understand the organisational characteristics of initiatives that implement recovery-oriented practice at the interface between mental health services and communities, as well as the mechanisms they employ to alter the conditions in which they operate. Semi-structured interviews and a focus group workshop with managers of five initiatives in England that implemented recovery-oriented practice at the interface between mental health services and communities. Our cross-sector initiatives shared a range of characteristics and employed mechanisms that created favourable conditions for recovery-oriented practice: strong social value and process (rather than performance) orientation; participatory approaches and shared decision-making; flat hierarchies; creating and seizing business opportunities; utilising networking and (social) marketing opportunities; risk-taking; valuing and supporting all members of their organisations; entrepreneurial and value-driven leadership. Recovery-oriented practice takes place in certain organisational environments that importantly influence an individual's recovery. Our research highlights the need to consider organisational characteristics when evaluating recovery interventions as well as a broader shift of research towards understanding the environments in which people experience recovery as members of society, and how those can be altered.

Community-Based Recreation Therapy and Mental Health Recovery: A Mixed-Media Participatory Action Research Study

Community-Based Recreation Therapy and Mental Health Recovery:A Mixed-Media Participatory Action Research Study Jessica J Ariss, MRSc, Alison Gerlach, PhD, J.B. Baker, Keith Barry, Lyn Cooper, Theressa L. de Vries, Kevin Halligan, and Monica Lacroix What Is the Purpose of this Study? • To understand how community-based recreation therapy can support mental health recovery, from the perspectives of people diagnosed with mental illness. • To guide the development, delivery, and evaluation of recovery-oriented mental health services. What Is the Problem? • The concept of personal recovery, as defined by mental health service users, emphasizes the importance of lived experience of mental illness. Few studies about recreation therapy in community mental health settings have involved partnerships with people who use mental health services. • Recreation therapists who strive to provide recovery-oriented services do not have enough evidence, informed by the lived experience of mental illness, to understand the role of therapeutic recreation in the recovery process. What Are the Findings? • Community-based recreation therapy can support the recovery process by providing a safe and fun environment that encourages self-determination in leisure while promoting hope and building confidence. • Service recipients' unique preferences and perspectives must be integral to service development, delivery, and evaluation to provide services that are truly recovery oriented. Who Should Care Most? • Mental health service providers (particularly in community-based settings). • Senior administrators in the mental health sector. • People who use mental health services. • Recreation therapists. • Mental health researchers. [End Page 125] Recommendations for Action • Involve mental health service users in service development, delivery, and evaluation. • Provide paid and volunteer peer support positions. • Listen to service users and provide personalized services according to each person's unique preferences. • Offer open access to a wide variety of recreation/leisure supplies at community-based mental health facilities and maximize opportunities to express personal choice. [End Page 126] Jessica J Ariss Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care Alison Gerlach School of Child & Youth Care, Faculty of Human & Social Development, University of Victoria, Coast Salish Territories J.B. Baker HERO Centre Keith Barry HERO Centre Lyn Cooper HERO Centre Theressa L. de Vries HERO Centre Kevin Halligan HERO Centre Monica Lacroix HERO Centre Copyright © 2019 Johns Hopkins University Press

Changing attitudes: The impact of Expert by Experience involvement in Mental Health Nursing Education: An international survey study.

Reform to nursing education is essential to ensure future generations of nurses are strongly positioned to value, know, and deliver strength-based, recovery-oriented mental health practice. A promising pathway to effectively drive reform is the coproduction of curricula by nursing academics and people with lived experience of recovery from mental distress referred to as Experts by Experience. The Co-production in Mental Health Nursing Education (COMMUNE) project is an international collaboration for development and implementation of consumer coproduced curricula. This study evaluated the inclusion of Expert by Experience-led mental health nursing education on nursing students' attitudes to people labelled with mental illness, mental health nursing, and consumer participation. A repeated self-report measures design was implemented in Australia, Ireland, and Finland to ascertain level of generalizability of consumer involvement within undergraduate nursing programmes. Data were collected from nursing students (n=194) immediately before and after the education module, using three self-report instruments on attitudes (Mental Health Nurse Education Survey, Consumer Participation Questionnaire, and Opening Minds Scale). Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Eighty-nine per cent of the 27 points of change reflected more favourable and accepting attitudinal change. Of these, 41% were significant at Bonferroni adjusted alpha of 0.0025. There was a statistically significant increase in preparedness for practice in the mental health field in each of the three countries. The most pronounced change is related to the social and systemic inclusion of people with a diagnostic label and recovery-oriented care more broadly.

The role of peer support in mental health care

Together with the evolution of recovery-oriented mental health care – where there is an active participation of the patient in working towards recovery – there is an increasing interest to include peer support. Although peer workers are already part of daily practice, many questions remain unanswered. This study aims to answer following questions: 1 How is peer support in mental health care organised at micro-level in Flanders, and which interventions are useful and acceptable according to healthcare providers? 2 How can peer workers be integrated in multidisciplinary teams of psychiatric hospitalization wards at micro-level ? The research protocol consisted of a mixed methodology, combining both quantitative and qualitative research, and was approved by the ethical review committee of the reference hospital. To provide quantitative results about which kind of activities are useful for peer support, a questionnaire was completed by 98 healthcare providers from three psychiatric hospitals in Flanders. The questionnaire was based on concepts of recovery-oriented models and contained 29 activities. Descriptive statistics was used for data analysis. Qualitative data on the current role of peer workers were provided via semi-structured interviews with twelve head nurses of three psychiatric hospitals. Data were transcribed and inductively analysed via thematic analysis. Sharing their experience was found to be the most useful activity of peer workers 74% of respondents. In addition, activities that contribute to better coping, self-image and social integration, listening to psychological problems and discussing the patient’s psychological condition were perceived as useful. Currently, peer support is used within the whole hospital, with peer workers not being linked to specific wards and no one keeping track of their workload. During group sessions patients talk about their problems and ask questions to peer workers. In addition to providing information and advice, peer workers teach the module ‘recovery’ to patients. Hence, they are not part of the multidisciplinary team but are assigned an advisory role outside the team. On the other hand, the liaison between the healthcare worker and the patient was found to improve via peer support. None of the 29 activities was found acceptable and useful by more than 75% of the respondents, suggesting some resistance towards peer support from healthcare providers. The practical implementation of peer support in the hospital raises questions on workload of the peer workers. In daily practice peer support is mainly employed during group sessions where patients talk about their problems and ask questions to the peer workers. Sharing their experience is perceived as the most acceptable and useful activity, but the peer worker can also have a role in activities that support coping, self-image and social integration. Based on these results, it is recommended that a peer worker is assigned to each hospitalization ward, with a specific defined role and in consultation with all partners involved. Future studies could include additional activities as well as argumentation why a certain activity is assigned acceptable and useful or not. Also the point of view of the peer workers towards these activities could be investigated in the future.

Review of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Recovery Literature: Concordance and Contention

This review explores and thematically analyzes recently published literature on personal mental health recovery for children and adolescents aiming to determine whether personal recovery-oriented mental health practice is wholly or partially applicable for children and adolescents with mental health issues. The study utilized a scoping review methodology to identify and explore the extent of English language peer reviewed literature specifically relating to mental health recovery for young people up to 18 years of age. Themes that emerged from these data were mapped to the five elements of the CHIME framework. Eight papers were identified that met the inclusion criteria illustrating a dearth of literature in the area of child and/or adolescent mental health recovery. Themes from the review included; developmental inclusion, recovery goals, hope and empowerment, locus of control, and connections with parents and family and peers, and connections with services and wider community. Recovery components were consistent with the CHIME framework and generally thought applicable for adolescents but require consideration of child development needs and familial influences to be relevant for younger children. Personal recovery-oriented practice is considered suitable for adolescents with modifications for children. Future research and practice are suggested to increase understanding in this area.

Promoting well-being in psychosis

Background: Traditionally, treatment of psychosis has focused on the amelioration of psychopathology and return to adequate functioning: clinical recovery although there is growing recognition of the importance of subjective experiences associated with recovery: personal recovery. Positive psychiatry extends the focus of psychiatric treatment to go beyond the reduction of psychiatric symptoms and and improvement of functional disability to promote the attainment of well-being.Aim: This article examined the conceptualization of well-being from the context of treatment for psychosis, its relationship with clinical recovery and highlighted some of challenges and implications for mental health services in promoting well-being.Discussion: Recovery from psychosis is a complex and individual process, where well-being is more than just the absence of mental illness. Clinical and personal recovery processes may contribute to well-being although further longitudinal studies are required. A recent framework for understanding well-being in psychosis helps address the lack of consensus in this field. There is a considerable overlap between the indicators of well-being in this model and the CHIME framework for personal recovery. Thus, interventions targeting personal recovery processes may be a potential way to promote well-being. Current mental health services face a considerable challenge if they are to fulfill the dual role of reducing psychopathology and/or disability whilst concurrently addressing personal recovery to promote well-being. The attainment of well-being may not only be a desirable treatment goal in recovery-orientated mental health services but also a potential protective factor against serious mental illness.

‘In some ways it all helps but in some ways it doesn't’: The complexities of service users’ experiences of inpatient mental health care in Australia

Recovery-oriented mental health care requires active involvement of service users in the evaluation of care. While experience of care surveys is routinely given out upon discharge, capturing the depth and detail of service users' experiences in such a way to meaningfully improve services may require more in-depth and targeted approaches. This study aimed to gather voluntary and involuntary service users' experiences of care during hospitalization in two acute adult mental health inpatient units, through the collaborative completion of a purpose designed tool. The purpose of the study was to examine broad experiences of care and to identify the utility of proactive approaches to ongoing service evaluation. Overall, 67 participants were interviewed. Findings highlight the complexity of experiences of care including how an admission can seemingly facilitate clinical recovery while not being recovery-oriented. The findings also detail areas for improvement in the way that care is delivered and evaluated. The implications are particularly pertinent for mental health nurses to consider how, within the existing constraints of their roles, they can provide therapeutic care to all service users.

How experienced social workers apply recovery-oriented mental health policies in everyday practice

ABSTRACTIn the wider mental health literature, there is a shortage of empirical studies elaborating on how exactly the recovery principle is effectively operationalised in everyday practice. This study explores how statutory mental health social workers implement recovery policies in Australia. Adopting the interpretative phenomenology framework, the researcher conducted in-depth interviews with six experienced statutory mental health social workers. The data were thematically analysed to identify the participants’ perspectives on how they experience the recovery practice phenomenon and, thus, how exactly they apply recovery policies in their everyday practice. The study contributes new knowledge to the literature by means of translating the main aspects of recovery policies into identifiable practice behaviours and demonstrates that the terminology the practitioners adopt considerably aligns with the critical and humanistic theoretical perspectives that similarly underpin the majority of the current recovery-oriented policy documents. The study concludes that there is a need for further research on how exactly personal and clinical recovery are effectively operationalised in statutory mental health practice, under different theoretical perspectives.