The Recovery Framework as a Way of Understanding Families' Responses to Mental Illness

Balancing Different Needs and Recovery Journeys

Bibliographic Data

ID11957781
AuthorsMarianne Wyder (0000-0002-8877-4232, The University of Queensland, corresponding author), Robert Bland (0009-0007-3295-9194, The University of Queensland)
Year2014
Volume67
Issue2
Pages179-196
Publication date2014-02-27
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAustralian Social Work (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0312-407X • E-ISSN: 1447-0748
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/0312407x.2013.875580
OpenAlexW1965949200
LanguageEN
Citations received40
References cited39

Personal recovery is a guiding principle in mental health and suggests that consumers own and are responsible for their own recovery. An exclusive focus on the recovery of those living with mental illness challenges the relevance of recovery concepts to families’ experiences. This paper extends these recovery principles to consider if the recovery framework is helpful in understanding families’ experiences. We distinguished the family's recovery task by recovery-oriented support and the family's own recovery journey. By applying recovery frameworks developed by Davidson et al. and Leamy et al. to these two tasks, we were able to highlight similarities and points of tension between consumer and family recovery tasks. The tasks for families include: (1) maintaining hope; (2) reconnecting; (3) overcoming secondary trauma; and (4) journeying from carer to family. Family response to mental illness is a dynamic, multilayered process rather than a static and enduring role of caregiving. The recovery framework offers an alternative way to understand a family's response to mental illness and suggests possibilities for social work practice with families

Mental health · Mental illness · Psychotherapist · Relevance (law · Task (project management · Family Caregiving in Mental Illness · Mental Health and Patient Involvement · Mental Health Treatment and Access · Psychology · Social Psychology

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