Module 3: Recovery: A Lived Experience

1. Module 3:Recovery: A Lived Experience Preparing the Workforce Employing Consumers and Family Members As Employees in the Mental Health Workforce Working Well Together

2. Welcome

3. The Vision • “Transformation to a mental health system where service delivery is no longer driven solely by the values of professionals and bureaucrats, but rather is based on an equitable partnership involving individuals with psychiatric disabilities is needed. One way to achieve such a transformation and partnership; is through the employment of people who are consumers of mental health services as providers. • vision statement acknowledges the recovery goals of "living, working, learning, and participating fully in the community • (Clay et al. 2005; New Freedom Commission on Mental Health 2003)

4. Recovery: A Lived Experience

5. Hope

6. Quote: One of the elements that makes recovery possible is the regaining of one’s belief in oneself. - Chamberlain

7. Learning Objectives • Discuss the views that support recovery • Identify elements of recovery • Understand the influence of recovery in the workplace

8. Is Recovery Possible? In small groups of three, discuss how your workplace would respond to these questions: • Is recovery possible? • If so, what would it take to recover? • If not, what would hinder recovery?

9. Recovery

10. The Emergence of Recovery The possibility of recovery is based on two divergent views: • Lived experience of consumers recovering • Research data supporting recovery

11. Lived Experience • "Mental health clients bring a set of values, beliefs, and lifestyles that are molded, in part, by their personal experiences with a mental illness, the mental health system and their own ethnic culture. When these personal experiences are shared, mental health clients can be better understood.... • California Department of Mental Health, Information Notice 02-03; Revised Addendum 4/2002: Required Components For the Implementation Plan; Plan for Culturally Competent Specialty Mental Health Services, 2002

12. Lived Experience • A Story of Recovery

13. The Research of Recovery Vermont Study of Post-discharged Consumers 1. 62-68% = Considerable Improvement 2. > 50% = Had Social Life Held Paid Job or Volunteered Were Symptom Free Were Off of Medication (n=269) • Harding, C., The Vermont Longitudinal Study of Persons with Mental Illness 1, American Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 144 pgs. 718-726 and The Vermont Longitudinal Study of Persons with Mental Illness 2, American Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 144 pgs. 727-735, 1987.

14. Peer Support Efficacy Study • 1,800 participants in randomized, controlled trial revealed those offered consumer-operated services as adjunct to traditional mental health services showed significant gains in: • Well-being—hope, self-efficacy, empowerment, goal attainment, and meaning of life—in comparison to those who were offered traditional mental health services only. • COSP Study Results (SAMSHA, Sept, 2010 Peer Support and Peer Providers: Redefining Mental Health Recovery)

15. Change in Well-being Over Time *COSP = Consumer-Operated Service Programs TMHS = Traditional Mental Health Services • SAMSHA Sept, 2010, “Peer Support and Peer Providers: Redefining Mental Health Recovery” • http://www.promoteacceptance.samhsa.gov/teleconferences/archive/default.aspx.

16. Well-being Improved by Intensity of COSP* Use *COSP = Consumer-Operated Service Programs

17. Benefits of Peer Support, Improved… • Acceptance, welcoming and engagement • Hope supported by an ally/role model within the mental health system • Firsthand information on system navigation and resources • Fewer symptoms • Social network participation • Fewer and shorter hospitalizations • Coping and acceptance of their illness • Illness management and daily functioning • Employment and retention rates • Self-help skill building outcomes equally as effective as therapy Solomon, P., Peer Support/Peer Provided Services, Underlying Processes, Benefits & Critical Ingredients, Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, (2004) Vol. 27, No. 4, Pg. 392-402

18. MHSA Outcomes California State Department of Mental Health: MHSA Implementation Study: Community Services and Supports; Successes and Challenges, www.dmh.cahwnet.gov/Prop_63/MHSA/Publications/docs/MHSA_ImplementationStudy_Report.pdf, 2009 • "An increase in the numbers of consumer and family member employees has been one of the most successful parts of the CSS component" (pg. 48), and with regard to Wellness and Resilience that "The most significant catalyst for change appears to be the use of consumer staff" as "living proof of the possibility of recovery. This kind of evidence can have a powerful effect on consumers and family members and on staff, particularly those who have been in the system for a long time seeing only consumers who are not doing well" (pg. 44).

19. The Reality of Recovery

20. Ten Elements of Recovery 6. Strengths-Based 7. Peer Support 8. Respect 9. Responsibility 10. Hope • Self-Direction • Individualized & Person-Centered • Empowerment • Holistic • Non-Linear See handout

21. Define the Elements Group Activity: • Divide into ten groups. • Each group will be assigned one Element of Recovery • Refer to the handout of definitions. • Provide two examples in the workplace of how this element can be supported.

22. Benefits of Recovery

23. Benefits of Recovery Knowing That Consumers: • Can Recover • Can be Gainfully Employed • Can Live in Supported Housing • Can Obtain Their Education Provides Transformational Opportunities For All

24. Identifying Benefits Around the room, you will see easel papers with different titles. As you walk by each paper, write a benefit that you believe consumers and families can bring to the workplace in each category listed.

25. Benefits of Employing Consumers Group Activity: • Consumer to Consumer • Consumer to Co-Worker • Consumer to the Mental Health System

26. Benefits of C/FM workers to…..Clients Receiving Services: • Inside experience, exposure, and understanding of the mental health system • Cultural, ethnic and racial diversity • Understanding the stigma and discrimination that follows consumers; special understanding and empathy • Non-pathologizing approach • Role models for others

27. Benefits to…..Consumer Employees: • Support their personal recovery. • Rewarding to help others grow and change. • Valued role in society; affirms contribution and appreciation • Role models: prove that hope exists and employment is possible. • Professional growth by building skills, gaining experience and knowledge. • Income can improve standard of living.

28. Benefits to….. Co-Workers • Staff gains insight and sensitivity. • Relationships are the most effective way to reduce stigma. • Helps reduce ‘us’ vs ‘them’ mentality. • Observe the process of recovery • Personal experience with the process of recovery • Model self-care

29. Benefits to…..The Organization • Reduce discrimination and stigma • Consumer cultureis represented • Valuable input given on system improvement. • Success in engaging some hard-to-reach clients • Focus on wellness instead of illness, successes instead of failures, abilities instead of disabilities.

30. Benefits to the Vision “Transformation to a mental health system where service delivery is no longer driven solely by the values of professionals and bureaucrats, but rather is based on an equitable partnership involving individuals with psychiatric disabilities is needed….

31. Benefits to the New Vision … One way to achieve such a transformation and partnerships; is through the employment of people who are consumers of mental health services as providers.” - New Freedom Commission on Mental Health (2003)

32. Quote: Never let go of hope. One day you will see that it all has finally come together. What you have always wished for has finally come to be. You will look back and laugh at what has passed and you will ask yourself... “How did I get through all of that?” - Unknown (Source: ThinkExist.com)

33. Questions?