recovery through discovery

1. recovery through discovery developing partners

2. Our History • Research Governance Framework (2002) • DEVELOP - Service User and Carer Group • ARISE - Accessible Research Involvement for Service Evaluation

3. Our Philosophy • Paulo Freire • Brazilian Educational Psychologist • Conceptual Framework • Knowledge is not neutral – there are hidden agendas contained within it. • Oppressed peoples experience life as objects – they are acted upon, as opposed to acting for themselves. • Lack of critical skills essential for influencing the institutions that have control over their lives

4. Conscientization • Changes in both the internal and external world of the person • Development of the link between knowledge and power through self directed action • Allows people to question the nature of their historical and social situation • Transforms the object experience of being acted upon into a subject experience of acting upon

5. Our Philosophy • Ignacio Martin-Baro • Jesuit Priest and Liberation Psychologist • “If our aim is to serve the liberation needs of the people, we need to ally ourselves with poor and oppressed groups in their struggle for justice and dignity.” • “We need to develop a progressive psychology that helps people find the road to their personal and collective historical fulfilment. In our case more than anyone else’s, the principal holds…the concern of the social scientist should be not so much to explain the world, as to change it.”

6. recovery through discovery • DoH Funded Social Enterprise • Company Ltd by Guarantee • Workers Co-operative • Employment for All • The greatest barrier people face is not being given the chance to prove their effectiveness”, (DoH, 2006) • Undertake research and evaluation and staff training relevant to our own lived experience • Most important aspect is enabling the voices of those least often heard to be listened to!

7. recovery through discovery • Can occur without professional intervention • Essential to have people who believe in and support you in the process of recovery • Is not linked to the cause of the problem • Can take place even if symptoms re-occur • Alters the pattern and symptoms of the illness • Does not happen in a straight line • Consequences of mental ill health more difficult to recover from than the original episode • Does not mean the illness never happened!

8. recovery through discovery • British Institute for Human Rights • Legal Services Commission - Access • Employment - Government North East • Young People who self harm - HTA, DoH • Mental Health First Aid - CSIP / NIMHE • Access to Psychological Therapies - North Tees PCT / NIMHE / CSIP • Access to Primary Care Services for prisoners - PORSCH Network, Public Health Observatory • Service User and Survivor Trainers Network - SUSTN National

9. dp Evaluation • Liberation and Community Psychology • Participatory Action Research • Service User led outcome measures • Concrete measures - housing, care package, education, time feeling well • Broad range of tools - diaries, narrative accounts, focus groups, observational • Professor Carolyn Kagan - Manchester MU • Professor Raquel Guzzo - Brazil