My story dealing with schizophrenia.

Click the arrow to start the video.

Recovering Mental Health in Scotland

From the Scottish Recovery Network:

After two years of investigation, interpretation and analysis, the eagerly awaited findings report of the Scottish Recovery Networks' narrative research project is available.

The research draws on the experience of 67 people across Scotland to highlight factors that helped and hindered their recovery from long-term mental health problems. It highlights several common elements which were found to be helpful for recovery. These included:

• Developing a positive view of yourself and having hope for the future.
• Having meaningful activities and purpose in your life, and having your contributions and choices in life validated and valued.
• Having supportive relationships.
• Having the right mix of treatments and support.
  

One of the things that is clear is that this is no different from what most people want in life.

The research is a major achievement for the Scottish Recovery Network (SRN) and is one of the largest qualitative narrative research studies on recovery in Scotland and worldwide.

To download the report Recovering Mental Health in Scotland, click here (large PDF).

To download individual sections the findings report Recovering Mental Health in Scotland click here.

Routes to Recovery
In addition to Recovering Mental Health in Scotland we have produced a companion resource entitled Routes to Recovery. This booklet does not aim to summarise the Narrative Research findings. It is intended to highlight some of the things that people said that they had been able to do to support their recovery. To download Routes to Recovery, click here (PDF).

Narrative Research Stories
Each participant in the narrative research project worked in conjunction with researchers to create their unique recovery story. Click here for more on how the stories were generated.

A selection of these stories have been published in a recovery booklet entitled: Journeys of Recovery, available by clicking here (large PDF).

To download the individual stories from the booklet click here.

To view other stories gathered in the narrative research project which did not feature in the Journeys of Recovery booklet then click here.

We’d like to take this opportunity to extend a heartfelt thank you to all the individuals that took the time to come and share with us their deeply personal and unique stories, without them this research would not have been possible.

Story disclaimer


Background for Narrative Research Project

One of the key tasks of the SRN is to gather and share people’s stories of recovery, looking at what helps and hinders on the road to living a satisfying and fulfilling life.

The majority of research around mental health problems focuses on treatments and interventions, for example comparing the effectiveness of psychiatric drugs. We aim to contribute to a new evidence base; one which is more concerned with the lived experience of recovery and things that help people stay well.

During the spring of 2005 the Scottish Recovery Network (SRN) conducted 67 interviews with individuals in towns and cities across Scotland about their recovery experience. Click here for more on the research project.