Support - Recovery Resources
WHAT IS “RECOVERY?” HOW DO I DO IT?
(An exerpt from NAMI NH's publication, Hope and Help)
Now, more than ever, the idea that people with severe mental illness can recover is considered a real possibility. In the last twenty years, many people with severe mental illness have become well, stayed well, and told their stories of how they did it. The possibility of recovery can no longer be denied! Many people can recover completely, and EVERYONE can at least partly recover. Recovery is a concept the “patients” taught their doctors, not the other way around.
Recovery is now considered a “mainstream” idea, no longer radical, which NAMI NH strongly supports. Recovery is the process of overcoming your illness and improving your sense of your own value, self-worth, the quality of your relationships, community connections and your overall satisfaction with the person you are. Some say it’s a lifelong process or journey while others say it’s an outcome or goal. Either way, recovery involves choosing, setting and achieving a series of intermediate goals that lead you in the direction you want your life to go.
Everyone has a different definition of recovery because everyone’s idea of a “better life” is different. It might involve getting a job, or more education, or finding some more rewarding kind of volunteer work, or becoming less isolated and more connected to the community that is broader than just the “mental health world.” It might involve improving self-esteem, or learning to relax and have fun more easily, or maybe integrating a past traumatic experience so that the feelings connected with it exercise less control over your life in the present. It might involve mastering coping skills that would reduce the need for psychiatric medication, or managing medication, emotional onslaughts, and mood swings. It might involve getting out of a bad relationship or into a good one, or getting a car or a better, safer, more pleasant place to live. It might involve integrating mental health care with your overall health care.
Despite differing definitions, there are now enough recovery stories to let us make some meaningful generalizations about recovery. They are:
HOPE is a prerequisite to recovery. Getting better can only happen if you believe deep down that it’s possible and can hold onto that belief even when you suffer setbacks.
SETBACKS are part of recovery. Recovery is not a straight line. Change is always risky and some risks don’t work out well. The trick is to think of setbacks as learning experiences, not defeats.
SUPPORT is essential in mutual supportive relationships with people who are committed to helping you recover: family members, friends, health care professionals, or anyone else. It is a very good idea to look for supporters among people who are themselves in recovery from severe mental illness, who can truthfully say, “I’ve been there and I know how it feels.”
EDUCATION is vital. You must learn everything you can about your illness, the treatments and medicines you are receiving, and what alternatives are available.
SELF-ADVOCACY means knowing what you have a right to demand of other people, treatment professionals, and/or government services, and learning appropriate ways to assure that you have these rights met. It means knowing how to get what you need.
COLLABORATIVE TREATMENT is the only kind of mental health care that can support recovery. It requires professionals who listen and respect the wishes and needs of clients and clients who are educated and able to advocate for their needs.