Recovery

We can all take steps towards recovery.

Recovery is a very personal thing and will be different for everyone. It’s often helpful to think about it like a journey. There might be difficulties and times when we feel we’re going backwards – but if we look at our lives overall, things feel better than they were before.

What might be part of my recovery?

There are lots of different things that might be part of our recovery.

• Medication and / or therapy that helps us to manage our symptoms.
• Finding somewhere to live that we feel safe and supported in.
• Getting a job that we like.
• Building a good relationship with our family.
• Meeting new friends or reconnecting with old ones.
• Looking after our physical health.
• Working with someone who can help us recover. This might be a doctor or therapist or it could be a carer, social worker, key worker, teacher or friend.
• Learning how to look after ourselves and take control of our recovery.
• Accepting that there are some things we can’t change.
• Feeling hopeful and living a good life alongside our mental health issues.

For some of us these things will start to happen naturally. But it might be helpful to think about recovery in a structured, step-by-step way.