Recovery in Words...Recovery in Action

 

 

I was looking around for a subject to blog about.   I was thinking about recovery.   So I went looking for definitions.   I found this definition on an archived section of the SAMHSA blog:

Recovery from Mental and Substance Use Disorders:  A process of change through which individuals work to improve their own health and wellbeing, live a self-directed life, and strive to achieve their full potential.
Through the Recovery Support Strategic Initiative, SAMHSA has delineated four major dimensions that are essential to a life in recovery:

• Health: overcoming or managing one’s disease(s) as well as living in a physically and emotionally healthy way;
• Home: a stable and safe place to live;
• Purpose: meaningful daily activities, such as a job, school, volunteerism, family caretaking, or creative endeavors, and the independence, income and resources to participate in society; and
• Community: relationships and social networks that provide support, friendship, love, and hope.

I like this definition of recovery.  It is sort of a statement of some of the building blocks that are needed for recovery to be possible.  

I would not use just this for a definition of recovery for myself  just as it is, but I do feel that it sets out the basics.  It is a good definition of recovery in words.   But let's take a look at recovery in action.    In our nation, there is a lot of conversation about mental illness.   How do we as a nation deal with mental illness?   How do we treat it effectively?   How do we prevent catastrophe?

I think we have a basic disconnect between our words and our actions.   In our words, we can define recovery.   We can tell you what recovery looks like.   We can even set out the building blocks, or nuts and bolts of recovery.   We can do that very well.  But once we look at our actions, there is a very different picture.  There is a picture of confusion, and policy decisions that leave us scratching our heads and just wondering, "Huh?"

Let me explain what I mean.  

Take building block number one from SAMSHA's definition of recovery: Health. 
Overcoming one's disease and living in a physically and emotionally healthy way.   It is hard to get this component of recovery if there are no services in your area.   It is hard to get this component of recovery if the services you receive are not adequate to meet your needs. It is hard to get this component of recovery if the mental health services you can attain and like in your area are repeatedly hit with deep budget cuts.  It is hard to get this component of recovery if you are shamed and stigmatized for trying to attain health.

Building block number two is Home.  It is hard to find a home if there is no low income housing in your area.   It is hard to find a home if you have to wait for years to get vouchers to help you afford a home.   It is hard to find a home if you can't get the skills you need to maintain employment.   It is hard to get a home when your income is repeatedly cut by the federal government. 

Building block number three is Purpose.   This building block has a social component as well as a financial component.   To get this building block, you need to be able to go and find community activities to engage in, and ways to volunteer.  Or, you need to be able to find employment, or at least have some financial means to participate.   This component is incredibly hard to get for anyone who cannot access health care, or housing.    It is also hard to integrate yourself into society if you do not know how to, or lack the skills to do this.  Add in the barriers like social stigma and prejudice, and this building block becomes almost impossible for many people.

Building block number four is Community.  Community is defined in this building block as relationships and social networks that provide support, friendship, love and hope.   This building block is also a challenge for many people with mental illness.   Mental Health services sometimes have the effect of isolating people in a community setting.   What I mean by that is that the mental health center will take you out into the community, and yet keep you separate at the same time.   The hospital ward is recreated in a community setting.   You will socialize only with 'your own kind' and this will ensure that you are 'safe and accepted'.    You will do this in groups at community locations.   So you are in town, but somehow, you are still on 'the island of misfit toys'-- just in a town setting.  And you feel like a misfit, most of the time.  
It is hard to feel love and support, and, to maintain hope when you feel like a misfit.

If we truly want to change mental health in America, if we truly want to hold a national conversation about mental illness, then we need to back up our words with actions.

Talk is cheap.    The headlines call for health reform.    They cast blame around looking for the answer to the riddle of mental illness.   We already have the answer.   We already have a solution.  We already have the building blocks for recovery and health.   We just don't have the policy, funding and actions to back up our talk.  

Have you ever heard that if you keep trying the same thing over and over, and keep getting the same crappy result that you need to try something different?   How can we keep expecting people who have mental illness to recover, when we consistently cut the funding and the programs that support the building blocks of recovery? 



And now for a message from our life coach cats:

 

Take a bite out of Stigma.   Advocate for your right to Recovery.

 You have a right to Recovery in actions, as well as in words.