s
Field name / Comments/notes
Title / Mental Health: Promoting Recovery Through Professional Practice
Code / NA3129
Level / 6
Credit rating / 20
KSF Skills / 1, 3, 4, 5, 6
Pre-requisites / Course entry requirements apply
Type of module / Extensive over one semester; part-time
Aims /
- To enable the student to review the evidence base for the promotion of recovery values within their professional practice.
- To enable the student to review their role, responsibilities and competencies in relation to the incorporation of recovery values in professional practice.
- To enable the student to explore the ethical, legal and professional implications of incorporating recovery values into their professional practice.
Learning outcomes/objectives / On successful completion of the module the student will:
- Discuss the recent policy changes and previous social movements which support the recovery movement.
- Critically evaluate the benefits of taking an ‘emancipatory empowerment’ approach to intervening in the lives of people with mental health problems.
- Critically review the literature which supports the promotion of recovery values within mainstream mental health services.
- Evaluate the ethical, legal and practical implications of incorporating recovery values into mainstream professional practice within the mental health field.
- Appreciate and value the need for a new dialogue surrounding the future of mental health practice based on a citizen rights model.
Content / Origins of, and re-discovery of, the recovery process in the field of mental health care. The history of the contexts and prevailing conditions in the past which have promoted and/or undermined recovery. The changing policy background, the emergence of new roles, practices and service configurations. The role of the Support Time and Recovery (STR) worker.
Definitions of recovery – professional conceptual frameworks; service user testimonies and individual narratives; multiple meanings of personal significance; diversity and complexity.
Differentiation between recovery, remission and rehabilitation. Stress, vulnerability, emotional resilience, crisis theory, crisis management and the recovery journey – from breakdown to breakthrough. The importance of hope, dreams, and personal spirations as motivating and driving factors towards autonomy and recovery. Culture, ethnicity, age, sexuality and gender differences a and their implications for recovery.
Characteristics of recovery promoting services in relation to: access; choice; negotiation of level and terms of involvement and
engagement; reflexive and collaborative forms of service evaluation.
Features of recovery promoting professional practice: acceptance of diversity; working with strengths; creative risk taking; promotion of practical and realistic ‘quality of life’ enhancing strategies. Implementation and promotion of particular approaches i.e. motivational interviewing, life coaching, self-management, relapse prevention, the negotiation of advance directives and crisis plan, etc. The importance of anti-discriminatory/emancipatory practice. Forms of empowerment and approaches to combating stigma and social exclusion through the promotion and strengthening of supportive social, friendship, familial and neighbourhood networks. Combating social exclusion through the promotion of support structures to ensure access to opportunities within mainstream society i.e. occupational, recreational, educational opportunities.
Care for the carers in assisting them to make adjustments to support recovery through the promotion of individual autonomy and independent living. The issue of co-dependence.
The role of the voluntary sector and the importance of inter-sectoral and inter-professional partnership working in the promotion of recovery.
Teaching and learning strategies / Teaching will take the form of keynote lectures, experiential workshops, debates and student led seminars. In addition to the module team, a number of specialist practitioner/lecturers will contribute to the module.
Teaching hours will normally be allocated as follows:
Direct taught hours 60
Student directed study 60
Link learning activities 80
Total hours 200
Learning support / Recommended reading:
Department for Work and Pensions. 2006. A new deal for welfare: Empowering people to work. Consultation report. London: Department for Work and Pensions.
Department of Health. 2001. The Journey to Recovery - The Government's vision for mental health care. London: Department of Health.
May, R. 2004. Making Sense of Psychotic Experience and Working Towards Recovery. Psychological Interventions in Early Psychosis: A Treatment Handbook. J. F. M. Gleeson and P. D. McGorry. Chichester, John Wilry & Sons, Ltd
National Institute for Mental Health in England. 2005. Guiding Statement on Recovery. London: Department of Health.
NIMHE/NHSU/Sainsbury Centre or mental Health. 2004. The ten essential shared capabilities: a framework for the whole of the mental health workforce. London: Department of Health.
Repper, J. 2006. "Discovery is the New Recovery." Mental Health Today 6 (1).
Roberts, G. and Wolfson. 2004. "The Rediscovery of Recovery: Open to All." Advances in Psychiatric Treatment 10: 37-49.
Wallcraft, J. 2005. Recovery from Mental Health Breakdown. Social Perspectives in Mental Health. J. Tew. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Warner, R. 2003. Recovery from Schizophrenia: Psychiatry and political Economy. London: Brunner-Routledge.
Assessment tasks / The assessment tasks will be:
50% of the marks will be awarded for an essay of 2,500 words
A written assignment (50%) in which the student is required to: explore and evaluate the evidence base/rationale for the recovery model.
50% of the marks will be awarded for the clinical link learning activity.
A clinical link activity (50%) in which the student is required to choose one from the following four options:
- Critically evaluate a recovery-based initiative/project operating within your current area of practice.
- Design, implement, test out and evaluate a recovery-based plan/strategy/ for either a client or a group of clients.
- Identify a recovery-based initiative in the voluntary sector and in the statutory sector. Compare, contrast and evaluate the similarities and differences between the two.
- Identify and critically evaluate either a statutory or voluntary sector initiative aimed at combating social exclusion and promoting recovery through a return to meaningful occupation.
Brief description of module content and/or aims (maximum 80 words) / This module will provide the practicing clinician with an opportunity to review the emerging user/recovery movement and to reflect upon and consider the implications of these developments for professional practice within the ever changing policy and service landscape in the field of mental health. Through critical reflection on their own current practice, it will enable practitioners to enrich and renew their knowledge base and develop the necessary recovery-informed aptitudes and competencies commensurate with a shift from illness to recovery oriented practice.
Area examination board to which module relates / Undergraduate Continuing Professional Development
Module team/authors/ coordinator / Mahess Jeeawock (Module Leader), Misgana Berhane, Athena Christoforou, Diana Cunningham, Alison Keen, Bill McGowan
Semester offered, where appropriate / tbc
Site where delivered / tbc
Date of first approval
Date of last revision / NA
Date of approval of this version / June 2008
Version number / 1
Replacement for previous module / NM311 Mental Health Service User Perspectives on Mental Health Practice and NM312 Promoting Positive Mental Health through Professional Practice
Field for which module is acceptable and status in that field / Nursing
Course(s) for which module is acceptable and status in course / BSc (Hons) in Professional Practice in Mental Health (Optional/Mandatory), BSc (Hons) in Professional Practice (Optional/Mandatory), BSc (Hons) Community Specialist Practice (Optional), BSc (Hons) Specialist Community Public Health Nursing (Optional), BSc (Hons) Nurse Practitioner (Optional)
School home / SNM
External examiner / Mark James (expires August 2012)