Mental Illness/Substance Use — What Recovery Can Look Like.
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Written by and for people with Lived Experience - Port Alberni Community Action Team - Families Helping Families
Today’s Learning Moment – 06 28 21 Issue:
Mental Illness/Substance Use — What Recovery Can Look Like.I’m betting you’re reading this because you’re either a patient or a family member of someone experiencing a mental health/substance use disorder (MHSU). Possibly you’re still in the stage in your journey where you’re just beginning to accept that you have a MHSU disorder that you need to deal with. That’s caused you to look for information, not only on your disorder but what recovery might look like.
It’s hard enough to come to terms with just one of these disorders. It’s even more difficult if you happen to be unlucky enough to be facing concurrent MHSU challenges.
Often patients and family are left with perceptions that recovery from MHSU is almost darn near impossible. That’s why I’m glad you made it to this article. There is hope and there are some great recovery models that can really make a difference for people.
We’ll explore one such model used by the BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services (BCMHSUS). They’re our Provinces Health Care Professionals who work with the most complex MHSU patients. That means that not only do they have the knowledge, but they also have the experience of what works and what doesn’t (evidence-based treatments).
Before we get into details, it’s important to know that the journey to MHSU recovery is a personal story and no two stories are identical. Your path will be unique to you. That means that you should never compare yourself to other people you see on the recovery journey. Some travel slow, others faster. YOU travel at your speed and that’s perfect for you!
So a wrap-around approach to recovery we’re going to introduce to you is called Psychosocial Rehabilitation, or PSR for short. I know, I know, we hate those long techie terms too. Hang in there with us. We’ll break it down into simple parts that will be easy to understand.
The recovery journey for many patients treated by BCMHSUS will include components of PSR. You’ll be encouraged to know that a measure of recovery or even full recovery is possible for all patients within our treatment setting.
First of all, you’ll begin recovery by focusing on improving your mental and physical health. During this time, we’ll start the assessment process to identify your strengths. It’s your strengths that we’ll help you build on. Some treatment models in the past focused on deficits or the problems a patient had. PSR is all about leveraging your assets. PSR turns your assets into a comprehensive plan to help you reintegrate
Your care team in partnership with you will build on your strengths. Remember, this is about you. That means that you direct your path. It’s custom made for you. It also means that nothing happens unless you’re involved.
Let’s take a small detour here for a second and talk about the difference between recovery and being cured. Recovery is defined as giving back a measure of quality of life to people with MHSU challenges. It means you’ll regain or return to a more normal life. You’ll be able to cope with your condition and no longer let it get in the way of leading a healthy and good life as defined by you. That’s pretty powerful!
Let’s get back to PSR. Your plan will focus on the social aspects of your life. The PSR treatment programme will consider and focus on all aspect of an individual’s recovery journey. In other words, a completely holistic approach to your recovery.
Your recovery plan will include education on your mental health challenges and if required, assistance to help you secure suitable supportive housing, a reconnection with your community or a reconnection (if you want it) with your family. Finally, we will assist you in developing short and long-term goals which may include addressing any legal or financial issues in your life, gaining access to training and education, so that you are better prepared on returning to the workforce if this is one of their goals for the future.
The overall purpose of PSR is for you to develop a sense of confidence, hope and optimism for the future, re-attain a level of community functioning and ultimately to live an independent lifestyle within your community (with local medical and social supports as required) to the best of your ability.
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Author: Created from Ideas of the Health Literacy Committee of BCMHSUS, an initiative of their Family Patient Experience Council
Contributors: Mark J Brady, Peer with Lived Experience. Mark advocates for people with MHSU.
Ron Merk, Lived Experience. Ron advocates for people with MHSU
This article is a partnership with BCMHSUS — Patient and Families
Experience Council and their Health Literacy Initiative as well as Families
Helping Families which is an initiative of the Port Alberni Community Action
Team. We send out “Learning Moment” articles regularly to help folks understand
substance illness. Knowledge is vital in understanding the illness of our
family members. You may copy, distribute or share our articles as long as you
retain the attribution.
This article was written using info from the following sources:
References
Psychosocial rehabilitation and severe mental health disorders: a public health approach
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1636121/
MHCC, Guidelines for Recovery-Orientated Practice, 2015.
https://www.mentalhealthcommission.ca/sites/default/files/MHCC_RecoveryGuidelines_ENG_0.pdf
BC Canadian Mental Health Association
https://cmha.bc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/visions_rehabilitation.pdf
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