Recovery from Schizophrenia and the Recovery Model

The recovery model is a social movement which is influencing mental health service development around the world. As such, it is not necessarily founded on scientific evidence. This presentation addresses the question: Are some of the basic tenets of the recovery model -- optimism about outcome, the value of work, the importance of empowerment of consumers of mental health services and the utility of consumer-run programs -- supported by the scientific research?

Richard Warner, MD is recognized by the international mental health care community as a leader in schizophrenia treatment and recovery research and development. He served as the Medical Director of the Mental Health Center of Boulder County, the public mental health facility for a population of nearly 300,000 people in the Front Range of Colorado, for 29 years until September 2005. While at the Mental Health Center of Boulder County, Dr. Warner helped to develop a comprehensive community support system for people with serious mental illness that has earned an international reputation. The system includes a residential treatment program for people with serious mental illness at which Dr. Warner was the Chief Psychiatrist. There he helped design and develop: a variety of community-based alternatives to the hospital for the treatment of people with acute psychiatric problems; an innovative jail-diversion program for people with mental illness; programs to employ people with mental illness, including a specialist pharmacy that employed people with mental illness as pharmacy technicians; regular public education on mental illness. He is now Director of Colorado Recovery in Boulder, a residential and intensive outpatient treatment program for people with serious mental illness. For the past decade he has been closely involved in setting up and running a global campaign of the World Psychiatric Association to combat the stigma of schizophrenia. He is the author of a number of books including Recovery from Schizophrenia (third edition, Brunner-Routledge, 2004), and (with Julian Leff) Social Inclusion of People with Mental Illness (Cambridge University Press, 2006).

PDF of Powerpoint Presentation: Recovery from Schizophrenia and the Recovery Model

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