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Sorry, I have a burning question and I'm hoping you can help me here. I'm not even sure that I've picked the most appropriate topic area to start this discussion (if not the mods might help me out and move it please?).
I have just come home from my first meeting of my council's Health and Wellbeing Advisory Group (on which I am a community rep). It was pretty good in many ways, but it also rubbed salt in a rather old wound and begged this question. BTW I will be very upfront and say that not only am I interested personally what you think/feel about this, I also want to take the range (because that's what I think there will be) of responses back to such groups. Why is that? There seems to be a very predominant view, not only in society generally, but even in MH professionals where they should understand the nuances (like some at my meeting), that MI recovery = returning to paid employment.
I am happy to share what I feel about this issue a bit later, as I don't want it to colour your responses and I know I tend to be vociferous. I hope that's ok, if not please tell me! Thanks.
In response to: What does recovery look like for you?
RickSenior Contributor
Re: What does recovery look like for you?
I believe most strongly i the idea of recovery.
But what is it?
Well it's important to have a funcional defintion of the concept.
To say that recovery is the road to/ back to wellness would not only be inaccurate but would also be totally disfunctional.
Why?
Simply put. You can't go back. That which has been done cannot be undone. And for many will complex diagnoses wellness is in the eye of the beholder.
Wellness unfortunately implies no symptoms. For so very many of this this has not been the case.
Recovery is about quality of life experience. About integration of strengths and hopes.
It's a map to where we dare hope to go. And it is not static.
Like the illness itself it is constantly moving.
so in a nutshell,(please Rick), Recovery is whatever you want to work towards to obtain a life you can live with.
This is attainable. Therefore it can endure.
as with an attainable recovery
Hope endures.
In response to: Re: What does recovery look like for you?
kristinSenior Contributor
Re: What does recovery look like for you?
Hi all,
I just found this on a website: the author speaks about a Virgil/Dante - Dante/Virgil relationship
and how transformative this mustual support & acceptance can be on one's journey.
Walk with me?
Hope endures...
Kindest regards,
Kristin
In response to: What does recovery look like for you?
Unknown userMember
Re: What does recovery look like for you?
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In response to: Re: What does recovery look like for you?
kristinSenior Contributor
Re: What does recovery look like for you?
Hi @Former-Member
Thanks for your detailed and thought-provoking response. I really appreciate it.
Am I trying to heal myself? Yes!
Do I look to others for help with this? Yes!
Am I trying to find ways to help others in their own healing journey? Yes!
But this is not quite what motivated the question(s). I'm not sure whether you read the start of the thread, I hope that helps explain why I asked.
Your response is exactly what I was looking for, because I believe that recovery - or the reframing of the question ended up as "what does wellness look like for you" - is a very individual thing. It cannot be given a potted specific one-size-fits-all definition, in my view, without ending up being very unhelpful to some at least.
Hope for a journey to wellness endures
Kindest regards,
Kristin
In response to: Re: What does recovery look like for you?
Unknown userMember
Re: What does recovery look like for you?
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In response to: What does recovery look like for you?
kristinSenior Contributor
Re: What does recovery look like for you?
Hi @kenny66
I can't believe I missed responding to your very thoughful and detailed response to my questions on this thread. My apologies. Thank you. Very interesting and resonates with much ofd my own thinking/feeling onthe matter. (I probably didn't respond then because I ended up quite manic mid-August and had to back off the forum.)
Hope for wellness endures!
Kindest regards,
Kristin
In response to: Re: What does recovery look like for you?
kristinSenior Contributor
Re: What does recovery look like for you?
Dear @Former-Member
Thanks for your lovely encouraging message . I really appreciate it.
I just found this Collaborative Recovery Model on the Neami website. It looks closer to the mark to me, what do the rest of you think?
Kind regards,
Kristin
In response to: Re: What does recovery look like for you?
RosieSenior Contributor
Re: What does recovery look like for you?
Hi @kristin
I cut this quote from the collaborative recovery model because I liked it.
Recovery involves the development of new meaning and purpose in one’s life as one grows beyond the catastrophic effects of mental illness (Anthony, 1993).
I think it acknowledges MI and MH in an concise and honest way.
What a great thread!
Rosie.
In response to: What does recovery look like for you?
NebSenior Contributor
Re: What does recovery look like for you?
Well for me it is being alive.....this is good by the way, I am pleasantly surprised to wake up every morning and thank the good Lord for that. I am in my mid 50s which is also surprising, as I tried very hard not to be!
I have just returned from a wonderful trip to the bottom of my new home (NZ), and that was magnificent...I even met a relation!!!!
I dont feel the need to hide the fact that I have had MH issues but nor do I need to bring it up....it is part of me and here I am! I love being able to become creative and more expansive rather than small and secretive....for which I am very to be able to do. Otherwise, i am just a middleaged over weight spinster who really does not give a toss if people think I am weird, cant help that and time is too precious to waste with other peoples head games!
In response to: What does recovery look like for you?
joyCasual Contributor
Re: What does recovery look like for you?
Hi,
Road to recovery........after reading several posts, its clear, the road to recovery is such an individual situation.
For me, I thought I had to get back to work, into routine as my pschycologist suggested would surely set me on the right path to recovery, but, it wasn't for me, as I find it easy acquiring the job as I worked at three different jobs, but, I couldn't hold them, now, I need to go back to work for practicalities, to pay bills & I am hoping I can hold the job.
Next, I thought that throwing myself into different interests & volunteering would be my road to recovery, but not so, as it became overwhelming.
So, now I know what is missing for my road to recovery, its connection with others, others maybe family if you have them, I don't & never have had a close family & I mean a family where you can have open communication about mental illness or close friends, but, sometimes because of the mental illness, friends keep away, as they think the situation is too insurmountable for them to navigate, or they have too much going on in their lives to deal with one more situation from a friend. It takes a special kind of friend, someone who is emotionally strong & mature, as going through mental illness for me is so consuming when I'm in the depths of it. I call it my black hole that I need to claw myself out of, that I forget everyone around me, my children, my friends. I forget that they have they're own stressors, good things that they have going on & they feel that they cannot share them with me because of the situation I am in. I think that that is why friends fall by the wayside. It would be great to be in a community where mental illness is not feared, but rather, people affected by mental illness are included, so, they can recover easily. I had breast cancer & I didn't feel excluded by my children or my friends, so why does mental illness need to be different? We need to have a buddy system, holistic way when a person who is diagnosed with mental illness from the initial contact with the gp, psychologist, any stays in hospital. The so called professionals need to be proactive in relation to recovery for people with mental illness, as well as drugs (if necessary) there needs to be a buddy system straightaway, as anyone who has been diagnosed with mental illness knows, the isolation is the killer.
This is my take on the road to recovery, because, sure I can get back into my routine, by going back to work, taking up interests, but, If I don't have any family support or friends to talk with openly, how do I honestly have a successfully, sustained road to recovery, as there are highs & lows still still on this road to recovery.
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. I really appreciate it. 
