Launch of a joint position paper from the Royal College
of Psychiatrists, the Care Services Improvement Partnership and the
Social Care Institute for Excellence
At his opening address to the Annual Meeting of the Royal
College of Psychiatrists on June 19th 2007 in Edinburgh, Professor
Antony Sheehan will launch a joint position paper entitled A Common
Purpose – Recovery in future mental health services. ‘Recovery’ is
the theme of the college meeting this year.
There is increasing national and international interest in the
concept of recovery, particularly in the field of mental health and
psychiatry. This position paper was jointly commissioned by the
Care Services Improvement Partnership, the Royal College of
Psychiatrists and the Social Care Institute for Excellence to
provide a succinct account of the meaning of recovery, its
underlying principles and implications.
Recovery is seen as having at least 3 different meanings: as a
spontaneous and natural process; as a response to effective
treatments; and as a way of growing with, or despite, continuing
disability. The latter is largely the focus of this paper.
Despite advances made in diagnosis and treatment in the last
decades, there is little real knowledge of how to prevent severe
mental health problems, and most current treatments are only
partially effective. Adopting a recovery approach harnesses the
value of current treatments, but is directed at living with and
beyond the limitations of continuing symptoms or disabilities.
A Common Purpose is based on the core belief that adopting
recovery as a guiding purpose for mental health services favours
hope and creativity over disillusionment and defeat.
“Focusing on personal recovery involves collaboration,
partnership working and self-directed care, all of which lead to
choice and control for people who use services, their families and
other supporters,” says Professor Sheila Hollins, President of the
Royal College of Psychiatrists.
A core emphasis on recovery is already finding wide acceptance,
providing a clear sense of direction and purpose for services and
organisations that seek to improve the mental health of individuals
and communities. This approach carries far-reaching implications
for training, supervision, governance and service design.
“I very much welcome the arrival of ‘A Common Purpose: Recovery
in Future Mental Health Services”, said Professor Louis Appleby,
National Director for Mental Health. “This timely publication
re-emphasises the values, aims and purpose of modern mental health
services, essentially as supporting people in recovery. Recovery
now sits beside choice, independence and inclusion as the
watchwords of modern mental health care. The focus for the next
decade will be in working together to turn these principles into
practice and making a reality of the aspiration that recovery
should be the common experience for all people who use mental
health services. This paper deserves to be widely adopted, it is
challenging, humane and, above all, hopeful.”
Concepts of recovery emphasise the value and uniqueness of each
person, and regard their different viewpoints and cultural
perspectives as a resource.
In order to provide effective recovery services, staff and
service organisations need to attend to their own sense of optimism
and morale. Both hope and despair are contagious. The health and
well-being of the practitioner and their organisation are vital for
effective practice.
A Common Purpose is set in the context of current government
policy for England and Wales, with reference to developments in
other UK nations and international examples of research and
practice.
The paper acknowledges that engaging with a recovery orientation
requires open and continuing debate for professions and services.
It is intended to support that discussion by clarifying areas of
agreement, as well as contentious and under-researched issues in
need of further investigation.
Piers Allott, National Fellow for Recovery
(2003-2007).
“The publication of the joint position paper is a milestone on
the journey towards setting hope of recovery at the heart of mental
heath services development.
The report offers a succinct and structured overview of the
background, principles and current experience of putting recovery
into action. It invites reflection and adoption and provides a
platform for action with challenges for everyone, with the aim of
refocusing our values, attitudes and priorities on working together
in the service of supporting people in recovery. My personal hope
is that it will contribute to making the world a better place. One
that supports understanding, acceptance, and inclusion, through
which recovery progressively becomes the hope and realistic
expectation for people experiencing severe distress.”
Patricia Kearney Director of Practice Development,
Social Care Institute for Excellence
“The recovery model offers workers and people who use services a
common aim through understanding the social model of care and the
willingness to learn from the experiences of people who use
services. SCIE particularly welcome this approach which echoes the
values and principles of social care. A common purpose and a common
understanding are essential to the good practice that supports
people to achieve live their life at its best.”
Copies of the report are available from Social Care
Institute for Excellence, 1st Floor Goldings House I 2, Hay's Lane,
London SE1 2HB I Tel : 020 7089 6840 fax: 020 7089 6841 or see
www.scie.org.uk
For further information, please contact Liz Fox or Deborah
Hart in the Communications Department.
Telephone: 020 7235 2351 Extensions. 298 or 127
References:
Royal College of Psychiatrists’
Annual Meeting, EICC, Edinburgh
19 – 22 June 2007