Principles of Recovery-Oriented Mental Health Practice

Running head:
Principles of Recovery-Oriented Mental Health Practice
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Abstract
Recovery in mental problems has been the focus on all mental health systems for over the past
four decades. However, very few of these systems have managed to improve the outcomes of
their users effectively. Perhaps the society had a different meaning of what recovery is. Most
people think that recovery is where a patient regains his or her full recovery from whatever the
physical problem the person had. However, the general health conception of recovery is about
being able to manage or control the life despite the conditions that have impaired the normal
body functioning. Taking the process of recovery means that the person or the patient is focusing
on care models that are supporting him or her in building resilience. This paper will be focusing
on recovery in mental health. The paper would be using a successful case of Sandy Jeffs to
outline how nurses can put into action the recommended principles of recovery in mental
conditions.
Keywords: Recovery, Uniqueness of Individual, Principle, Choice, Dignity, Evaluation,
Rights, Collaboration

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The Importance of Relationship in Recovery-Oriented Practice
Sandy Jeff is an author whose poetry work can serve two main purposes. The first one is
encouraging the mentally impaired persons in their journey to recovery. The second one is to
provide a real picture of what mentally ill patients go through. In particular, the work of Sandy
Jeff can motivate or inspire nurses to implement the principles of recovery model and assist
many other patients to have a successful life like Sandy Jeff. The goal of this paper is to
demonstrate how nurses can use the real story of Sandy Jeff to implement the principles laid out
in the recovery mode.
The Concept of Lived Experience and Mental Recovery
According to (Australian Health Ministers' Advisory Council, 2013), the notion of mental
health recovery looks at the value of people with lived experience in context of mental recovery
and empowers them to promote their lives. The concept of recovery recognizes that people with
lived experiences in mental health require equal opportunities as the rest of the members of
society to meet their needs and purpose in life. With that, it brings to the lived experience the
knowledge, expertise and skills to the mental health specialists enabling them to opportunities for
challenging the contemporary beliefs and traditions held about mentally ill persons. According to
(Mental Health Commission of NSW, 2018), individuals with lived experiences in mental health
problems together with carers have unique understandings into how health services can be
tailored to best respond to their mental health desires. This justification does not only apply to
health care but even in other domains.
Recovery in mental health involves gaining hope and maintaining it. It is an
acknowledgment of one's capabilities and the disabilities. Through hope, a person starts to ignore
the limits that can come from the disabilities, engages in active life, regains social identity, and

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personal autonomy. The products of recovery are gaining the meaning, purpose, and an
optimistic view of life. Recovery has two requirements. The internal requirements are hope,
empowerment, healing, and connection with the society. External requirements are human rights,
a culture that promotes recovery, and recovery-focused services. According to (Australian Health
Ministers' Advisory Council, 2013), recovery-focused services exist in five main domains. The
first domain is the promotion of culture, hope and optimism. This practice focuses on services
that accept diversity and uses a language that communicates hope in the recovery process. The
second domain is holistic care. This requires that health services will pay attention to the whole
life of the serssist the service user in all the situations of his life. The third domain require a
focus on personally as an intergral part of health services instead of as an additional task. The
fourth domain requires organizational commitment and developmental workforce service that
provide a conducive environment for recovery. Lastly, the fifth domain requires practical actions
taken on the social inclusion and other social factors in patient health and wellbeing.
Principles of Mental Recovery
The report of (The Department of Health, 2010) emphasizes on the principle of the
uniqueness of the individual. This principle identifies that recovery in not just about the illness,
but it is also about giving people a meaning and a purpose in their lives. Recovery is more about
satisfying the patient and his or her carers purposeful life. Drawing from the lived experience of
Sandy Jeffs, she now has a different life than the one she had when she was fighting with
schizophrenia. Despite the boundaries of the illness, she has been able to defeat the limitations of
the disabilities and she is able to live as she wished. Sandy states that she had been in “psychotic
hell with nothing happening, no purpose in life, no reason to get out of bed, no hope, no
meaning.”