MHE launches a ‘Guide to Personal Recovery in Mental Health’

Mental Health Europe (MHE) launches a new resource for people experiencing mental health difficulties. A ‘Guide to Personal Recovery in Mental Health’ follows on from ‘A Short Guide to Psychiatric Diagnosis’ and is the second publication in a series of short guides.

This series aims to help people who have personal contact with the mental health system – either during or after receiving a diagnosis – to stay better informed. ‘A Short Guide to Psychiatric Diagnosis’ was produced for people who receive a mental health diagnosis. The ‘Guide to Personal Recovery in Mental Health’ aims to describe ways of thinking about, managing and overcoming mental ill-health.

While receiving a diagnosis for mental ill-health may bring a sense of relief, it can also be a lonely and stigmatising experience. It affects people’s relationships, their sense of who they are, their self-confidence, sense of purpose.  Often it is accompanied by loss of hope for the future. MHE hopes that the ‘Guide to Personal Recovery in Mental Health’ will encourage people to start on a journey of finding the ways to deal with mental health problems and lead a good life; one that is defined by the person themselves, with or without what professionals call symptoms.

The ideas developed in this interactive guide are by people with lived experience of mental ill-health, and many people across the world have found them helpful. Alongside general information on recovery, the Guide introduces principles of starting a recovery journey and provides some ideas about where to begin your research and planning. These ideas, co-produced by people with lived experience, are not being prescriptive but rather offering a starting point for others to start their own journey and make their own discoveries.

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Related:

• What is Recovery?

• Paving the way to recovery – the Personal Ombudsman System