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The Mental Health Recovery Movement and Family Therapy, Part I: Consumer‐Led Reform of Services to Persons Diagnosed with Severe Mental Illness
Author(s) -
Gehart Diane R.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of marital and family therapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.868
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1752-0606
pISSN - 0194-472X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1752-0606.2011.00230.x
Subject(s) - mental health , mental illness , mental health law , family therapy , middle eastern mental health issues & syndromes , transformational leadership , psychiatry , psychology , human services , commission , medicine , public relations , psychotherapist , political science , social psychology , law
In 2004, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued a consensus statement on mental health recovery based on the New Freedom Commission’s recommendation that public mental health organizations adopt a “recovery” approach to severe and persistent mental illness, including services to those dually diagnosed with mental health and substance abuse issues. By formally adopting and promoting a recovery orientation to severe mental illness, the United States followed suit with other first‐world nations that have also adopted this approach based on two decades of research by the World Health Organization. This movement represents a significant paradigm shift in the treatment of severe mental health, a shift that is more closely aligned with the nonpathologizing and strength‐based traditions in marriage and family therapy. Furthermore, the recovery movement is the first consumer‐led movement to have a transformational effect on professional practice, thus a watershed moment for the field. Part I of this article introduces family therapists to the concept of mental health recovery, providing an overview of its history, key concepts, and practice implications. Part II of this article outlines a collaborative, appreciative approach for working in recovery‐oriented contexts.