Mental Health and Illness: Understanding the Recovery-Oriented Practices

This article explores mental health and illness, recovery-oriented practices, and the experiences of those living with mental illness. It discusses the national framework for mental health services and the importance of respect and dignity in treatment. The article also highlights the unique nature of mental illness recovery and the role of personal experiences in shaping treatment plans.

Running head: MENTAL HEALTH AND ILLNESS 1
Mental health and illness
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Mental healthcare and illness
Mental illness is a mental condition that impedes feelings, mood, capability and personal
thinking. To other individuals, the sickness disrupts the normal daily functions. The illness
usually diminishes the ability to cope with the normal imposition of life. Schizophrenia is one of
the solemn mental sicknesses. But the good news about it is that the person can recover from that
mental sickness. The illness can affect a person regardless of his or her age, religion or race.
Mental illness is not the outcome of upbringing or individual weakness. Many people who are
diagnosed with the disease, experience alleviation from the symptom through assertiveness to the
personal treatment plans (Prins, 2014).
Psychological and medication treatment like interpersonal and cognitive therapy with the
support of the community may be an aspect of the treatment plan and can assist in the recovery.
The other components plan includes, ready transportation, excess, sleep, diet and paid volunteer
activity contribute greatly to the affected person (Council, 2013). The main objective of this
paper is to address the following issues. First, the concept of life experience with mental illness
and health. National framework for the recovery-oriented outline of the major ideas on mental
recovery services. Lastly, the paper will illustrate how the health practitioners may implement
oriented practices with the examples from Sandy Jeff.
Recovery from mental illness requires more efforts than any interventions from the
medical professionals. The knowledge gathered is necessary and the understanding effective
procedures when dealing with the patient with the similar condition. The mental illness lived
experiences has attracted a lot of interest among the medical practitioners. The knowledge is
gathered from the people undergoing the mental illness or from the those who recovered from
the sickness. The recovered people share the stories through statements, life experience stories

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and can express their feeling in form of poetry. The poems and stories create the basis for
medical experts to understand the needs and specific interventions for individual persons. It's true
that about hundred people experience mental illness in the course of their lives. The highest
occurrence of the sickness appears at the teenage age. For instance, Sandy Jeff was 23 years old
when she was diagnosed with the schizophrenia. She faced 17 years of psychotic hell with
nothing happening. The individual with mental illness undergoes hardship of distress.
The family members should take the responsibility of their sick people. Many of the
people with mental disorders are faced with stigma and prejudice overwhelm with mental health
sickness. The challenges could have negative on the environment and relationships. Mental
illness is attributed to the very deep interventions in thinking that affect languages, senses and
self-perceptions. People with the mental complications face many challenges of self-realization
in their daily life. Thus, making them unable to cope with the daily chores like self-hygiene,
preparing meals and cooperating with the environment around them. The illness incorporates
psychotic experiences like hearing the voices and delusions. Sandy Jeff mind was always full of
phantoms and spooks that were further thrusting here into the miasmic chaos of blurred real life.
She found no purpose, reason and hope for life (Jeffs, & Leggatt,2014).
People living with mental sickness experiences the high level of stigmatization,
discrimination and minimal engagement rendering them a meaningless life. The community
around them fails to recognize their worthiness. Therefore, resulting in intimidation hence
indulge with other life threating activities like drug abuse (Arboleda & Stuart, 2012).
Sandy Jeff main purpose of writing was pivoted to have that purposeful life. But that
purpose was sometimes denied for people with mental disorder. Sane people will not employ
insane people since they are mentally ill. The community has withdrawn its support towards

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these people. These supports are like giving them drugs and meaningful motivation jobs. That
the only way the community can create their sense of worth within the society (Smetanin et al
2013).
The mentally ill people face the challenge of obligatory isolation. With respect to Sandy
Jeff the mad woman, family members will leave alone especially them that don't care. Isolation
creates loopholes for family breakups and the distortion of the parent and children links. Thus,
lowering their self-confidence and losing hope. The outcome of the losing hope follows the urge
of committing suicide. Sandy Jeff says in one of the incidences she almost killed herself. She
remembered conversing with Bob Hawke. The prime minister said to her through the radio that
she was contaminating the society hence her life was no longer important. The incidence made
Sandy withdraw from the society. It was a serious suicidal case which never happened. All these
experiences create a firm foundation for all medical practitioner's practices and things to consider
when dealing with mentally challenged individuals.
Council, A. H. M. A. (2013) enacted principles for recovery-oriented practices meant to
serve as the guidelines for mental health experts. The guidelines allow them to offer efficient
service to the mentally ill individuals. Some of these principles that are currently used are
personal uniqueness, exact choices, rights and attitudes, analysis of the recovery, respect and
dignity, partnership and the communication. According to Sandy Jeff, a journey of the recovery
calls for self-confidence, realizing oneself, capability, self-determination and understanding the
positive gains in the view of life.
In mental illness, recovery has got distinct explanations. The explanation does not refer to
an individual recovering completely from the mental disorder. But it’s different from the way
people recover from other physical difficulties (Council, 2013). A mental person must recover

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from all sort of distress and the psychological injuries linked to the psychotic experiences.
Chinman et al (2014) proposes that recovering procedure should offer the holistic look of the
mental sickness. The proposal focused on a complete individual as a person and not the
symptom. They believe that its possible for a person to get back partially to the position he or she
was before the diagnosis.
The recovery-oriented mental health incorporates inputting the positive attitude towards
the mentally ill people by listening and acting on issues facing them (Davidson et al 2012).
Sandy Jeff in one of the stories he describes the psychiatric hospital as the wilderness of the
strange where the mentally challenged people experience kindness and great humanity. She
describes the situation in larundel where she was emotionally and physically insulted by the
nursing profession. But in the same hospital came a strange woman who brushed her long hair.
The woman taught her a lot of humanity which kept her calm showed some kindness which
greatly appeased her. That practice showed Sandy Jeff humanity rights were well catered for
(Jeffs, S., & Staines 2002)
Recovery-oriented practice enhance respect and dignity. Respect and dignity involve
courtesy exhibition as well as the establishment of the good relationship between the mentally ill
people and the mental health care professions. Thus, contributing to decreasing in stigma within
the mental health practitioners and from the society (Corrigan et al 2013).
The medication becomes easier when the mentally ill person shares the experiences with
the mental health practitioners. Sandy Jeff sat in the day room weeping but at late in the night the
woman comes and brush her and calm her down. She feels some sense of love and wishes she
had not embarrassed her self during the madness.

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Recovery evaluation plays a key role in the restoration lives of mentally ill people. But its
more meaningful if the person is able to express his or her past experiences. From the Sandy
Jeff's story wellness is a unique aspect. The aspect differs from one individual to another. For
instance, mental sickness has been individuated to the people that it associates with. Mental
illness specialist makes use of uncomplicated things like getting from the bed as part of mental
illness wellness. The other methods of measuring recovery are the assessment, use of the
instrument to measure the level of the recovery and the technique of the inventories for wellness
(England,2016).
Recovery-oriented practices in the National framework describes the wellness as the
capability of formulating and acquiring a meaningful life. The document provides vital policies
and approaches to improve mental health services in Australia. It creates a convention distinction
between the consumers and the service providers. Recovery-oriented mental health practices
apply a set of abilities (Slade et al 2014). Subsequently, the practice has enabled the individuals
to take part in their responsibilities like setting goals, desires and the ambitions. For instance, the
empowerment to Sandy Jeff has opened her very many doors in Poetry to an extent seem like a
miracle to her. The recovery-oriented practices provide support needs and rehabilitation for
mentally challenged. Lastly, it offers options for self-determination and the safety of the clients
(Glover et al 2013).
In conclusion, the framework has focused on mental health recovery services across the
healthcare spectrum. The establishment of many psychiatric services in all general hospital
brought hope in Life of Sandy Jeff. The Psychiatric wards reduced the period of admission and
the level of stigmatization. The framework encouraged the societies to have the diversified mind
to curb emotional experiences among the mentally sick people. Recovery from the mental illness

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is unique to specific people. This is because different people experience varied incidences in a
range of situations.
Reference
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AG14Kqmry38&feature=youtu.be
Jeffs, S., & Leggatt, M. (2014). Schizophrenia: a dialogue on progress. Gavin Mooney Memorial
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-MS4Sbv8Ng#action=share
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