Recovery Focused Practice
Mike Watts
Who am I
 Someone who has recovered from
mental illness
 Married to Fran who also has recovered
from mental illness
 Program Coordinator in GROW
 PhD candidate having just submitted my
thesis
Recovery as a
Re-enchantment with Life
CARE a 4 letter word
The charity syndrome (Siebert
in Glasser 2003:206)
 ‘My psychiatrist
appeared on
television…. People
like me have
different brain
structures. He was a
cold fish.. an expert
on brain structures’
(Peter)
Liberation, empowerment,
re-enchantment
Conditions for re-enchantment
 A warm and
emotional welcome
 ‘It was a warmth.. A
smile a glance’
 ‘It was as though it
was your best friend’
 ‘That fear I had sort
of left me I felt at
home’
A journey that started with
hope
 ‘I felt that night I had
been lifted slightly. I
felt I’d got hope and
hope had never
occurred to me
before. I just feel
you can’t go into a
supermarket and
buy hope’ (Mags)
Your existence gives me hope
Recovery as a journey of the
heart
‘That’s the very first
step hoping I can get
well and stay well. That
was the start’
‘ someone can say
something, it
resonates… does some
kind of transformation..
It can be physical and
emotional’
Friendship the reciprocal key
I would try to say
little things, but I’d
cry and somebody
was always there
And we were sort of
very close because
to me he’s the son I
lost and I was the
mother he lost
The power of reciprocal
witness
‘I realised that there
were a lot of others
who had been
through traumas’
‘I felt a different
person because I
could now talk about
issues’
‘Telling my story
was healing’
Healing witness
 That I could go in and
just be there and just
talk a little was like
lifting a great burden
 I was loved back to
health the time people
gave me, the effort
people made for me
was wonderful
An extending family
If I felt down and
was maybe crying
on my own I would
ring M and B would
come and take me
out. He wouldn’t
bring me back til
maybe 10 and I’d
come back laughing
GROW weekends
 I was delighted with it
 There was a sense of
freedom
 And I just sang because
everyone was singing
 I softened towards
people and started
going to other things
Challenge and support
The first task was to
go for a walk it was
terrifying, M came
with me and I
thought I never
thought I could do
that
Risk taking
And she said where
have you ever
dreamed of going
and when I said
America she said
why don’t you…
when I came back I
knew I was
recovered
Taking responsibility
It started to dawn on
me that neither the
doctor nor the pills
were going to effect
a cure
Whoever was most
to blame only I can
get me well
Let go of all that
anger
Leadership a reciprocal
relationship
Leading the meeting
was a big one
I remember being
asked to accept
being organiser it
was like my heart
got bigger inside my
chest
Re-authoring a new story
I had no sense of
myself, I didn’t know
who I was, I had
learned a lot of lessons
from people in society,
neighbours, my family,
my foster family
children in school that I
was different that I was
less
All the visits with my
doctor did was confirm I
was mentally ill
Reauthoring a new story
I went to my first
GROW meeting and
a person gave her
testimony…. I
remember going
home that night
feeling lighter saying
why in God’s name
have I carried this
Maturing
I suppose for me its
learning maturity as an
adult
I developed the ability
to deal with people
even when they were
very difficult
Mountains became
molehills and life
bacame managable
Providence and the role of
goodness
Chance meetings that
can turn your life
around
The job was almost like
divine intervention
I learned to do the
ordinary good thing
even if I was afraid
Society an opportunity to
become
Work was only the
beginning
At the time I
wouldn’t have
trusted myself to
flush the toilet here I
was in charge of a
million dollars of
machinery
Niches in leisure education
work
I realised there was
a connection
between getting
angry and my
perception of others
I also could see the
same in others
Contributing to social capital
It made me that
strong I thought
‘what can I do to
prevent suicide’
It has humbled me I
feel I owe a lot of
people I would like
to pay them back
A word from psychology
Riessman 1990 we need to provide helping
roles
Christensen and Jacobson 1994,
professionals should begin to design rather
than try and deliver recovery plans
Rappaport 1999 Professionals should work to
find or create niches in society that have the
power to help tranform identity
The last word
Recovery is becoming
more strongly wisely
and more lovingly the
same, unlearning the
lessons that I had to
learn. 60% of this came
from my own feelings
and the rest from the
real actions of others.