Recovery in Mental Health: examining the reality for professionals and service users

This paper examines the concept of recovery, which has become a dominant theme in contemporary UK mental health policy and practice. Recovery as a term is personally defi ned and may mean different things to different people. Both service users and mental health professionals may hold different viewpoints in relation to the notion of recovery and how this can be achieved. The emphasis on adopting recovery-focused practices in contemporary mental health practices may mean that mental health professionals use their knowledge and expertise in a slightly different context to enable service users to achieve their goals for recovery.