The Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health has criticised mainstream mental health services for being preoccupied with medication and symptom control, rather than recovery.
In a new report today, Making Recovery a Reality, the charity called for a revolution in services to allow people to “get their lives back”.
Policy adviser and co-author Jed Boardman said: “Traditional services wait until a person’s illness is cured before helping them to get their life back. Recovery-focused services aim from day one to help people to build a life for themselves.”
Gap between reality and policy
He added that while recovery is already part of government policy, the reality was that services on the ground were still more concerned with managing people’s symptoms than their work, education and family life. The charity also wants to see a culture shift in mental health services by employing more ex-service users as practitioners and managers.
The report will be launched today at the 2008 Sainsbury Centre Lecture. It marks the beginning of project to look at how recovery can be made a practical reality in mental health services and the criminal justice system.
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