Framework for recovery-oriented practice

(Australia) published

The Department of Health, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia has recently published an excellent Framework for recovery-oriented practice. This is aligned very closely with the philosophy of recovery as we understand it in Britain.

It is rewarding to see that in their rather short reference list they cite Laurie Davidson / Recovery Devon’s summary of the guiding principles of recovery. The lead author, Imogen Edeson will be our guest at the forthcoming Autumn Festival of Recovery and Wellbeing Innovations and may offer ‘a letter from Australia’ as part of our proceedings.

The Framework is available here.

‘In the paradigm of mental health, the concept of recovery is understood to refer to a unique personal experience, process or journey that is defined and led by each person in relation to their wellbeing. While recovery is owned by and unique to each individual, mental health services have a role in creating an environment that supports, and does not interfere with, people’s recovery efforts. To this end, the Framework for recovery-oriented practice explicitly identifies the principles, capabilities, practices and leadership that should underpin the work of the Victorian specialist mental health workforce. As such, the framework is intended to provide broad guidance to both individual practitioners and service leaders, spanning different practice settings and age ranges throughout the specialist mental health service system …. It is intended to complement existing professional standards and competency frameworks.’  

The document is commendably ‘person-centered’ in language but more importantly in values and intent.

The 'Note on Language' states:

'There are a number of terms employed throughout international mental health policy, legislation and literature to refer to people accessing mental health services, such as consumers, clients, service users and patients. In this document, wherever possible, the terms ‘person’, ‘individual’, ‘people with lived experience’ and ‘people accessing mental health services’ are used to model humanistic language in line with a recovery approach. Similarly, because many people do not identify with the term ‘carer’ and the kind of relationship this term denotes, this document uses terms such as ‘support people’, ‘support networks’ and ‘significant others’, to recognise the plurality of relationships of importance to people.'