Resources for client-driven, mental health recovery and wellness
- References to emerging research literature
- Training and consultation
- Links to important sites in the midst of the paradigm shift in mental health services
Available Training
For and with Clients
For and with the Staff Team
Important Links
- Daniel Fisher, et. al. National Empowerment Center
- University of Illinois at Chicago
* Conference papers compiling peer perceptions from this pioneering effort
- Boston University - Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation
* Lots of additional recovery resources, from a the pioneering academic leader.
- Other MH Recovery Links
Research
Examples of recent research abstracts
A Tremendous Revolution... Still Moving Too Slowly
For over 30 years, people branded with the label of so-called "mental illness" have sought each other's support, created peer support programs, and launched a "recovery movement" that has now blossomed into academic recognition pointing to true best practice. During this time, an emerging research literature has increasingly shown that what we call "mental illness" has often been clumsily mis-understood and all too often "treated" in ways that not only don't help, but tend to dis-empower people and make them sicker, or much worse, untentionally train them to remain sick.
Perhaps everyone in society will someday realize that so-called mental illness is more often better seen as a kind of emotional, developmental arrest, which occurs because of trauma or because a person happened to lack the right resources, or an experience of success in their emotional or mental health self-management, -- or perhaps, for various reasons, because they lacked the capacities to trust, or to find trustworthy people -- during a critically important time of personal crisis. (Then, as their emotional capacity to cope went backwards, others around them labeled them, and told essentially them to give up hope they could recover. This is the compounded, tragic, and all too common scenario of so-called "mental illness.")
As pyschiatrist Daniel Fisher, M.D., PhD., a former client and visionary leader in this revolution says, "Mental illness is more often the lack of dreams, than the lack of dopamine." (You'll find his site listed on the links page.) Dan also points out that people typically have to first recover from being stigmatized by the label of so-called "mental illness" before they can begin the work to recover from the issues underlying the initial disruption. Obviously, people in severe emotional distress need helpful, compassionate people, and supportive,experiences and opportunities to do their own skill building for self-determination to begin to find their bearings again.
In other words, the end point of this revolution is the transformation not just of the mental health system's understanding, but a new paradigm in societies' common understandings, so that everyone knows 1) the research-based fact: people people can and do recovery from even the most severe forms of psychiaric distress (another quote from Dan) and 2) that how we help them recover must include empowering and resourcing them to become the leader in their own unique path to healing. This author's bias is that a critical element often common to people's recovery is developing capacities to create emotional connections with others in new ways.
Creating emotional connections with others in ways that are different than we're accustomed, is usually a somewhat scary process at first. Yet, this is what allows the person the kind of control we all want in building our uniquely needed healing environment, our own personal, social and conceptual space for life and healing, no matter how severe our emotional distress. (And let's not kid ourselves: all human beings suffer emotional distress; that's something we all have very much in common!)
With this understanding,we can create social environments that help mental health clients, rather than hurt them or stigmatize them, whether it's in clinical or peer run environments. Unfortunately, the all too common experience is still a lack of understanding. Our public mental health system tends to serve the more passive clients, and, unfortunately, tends to train them to stigma and disempowerment. (A sad, telling fact is that clients report the place they experience stigma the most is the very public mental health system that's supposed to help them). Ironically, this occurs despite the fact that the mental health system is chock full of people who truely want to help, who have the very best intentions, and who came to the profession out of caring and concern and a genuine need to make their contribution to help others. As the saying goes, they are good people, often caught in a bad system.
This site is dedicated to the positive vision of mental health recovery and wellness we can all share. It is dedicated to all those working toward their own emotional and mental health wellness and equally to all those who support them. It takes the village we will build together. I hope that over time you'll find here research abstracts and reviews, links to other sites and information, as well as a sense for how theauthor might provide support, training or consultation to your organization. Please share this site with someone you know who might be interested, and check back to see how the research links grow. Soon there will be a searchable database that references articles I've found particularly interesting.