Are we there yet Riding the Road to Recovery

1
Are we there yet?Riding the Road to Recovery

• Jody Meek, M.D.
• Psychiatrist, Director of Clinical Services
• Louisiana Office of Mental Health
• Region VII

2
Adapted FromMark Ragins, MDRoad to Recovery

• http//www.village-isa.org/Ragin's20Papers/Road2
  0to20Recovery.htm

3
(No Transcript)
4
Why did Recovery Win?.... Passionate people.

• 12 Step/Substance abuse
• Consumer movement
• Psychiatric Rehabilitation
• Outsiders/people who Dont follow the rules
• Civil Rights Advocates
• Staff who came to the field for personal reasons
• People who are doing Gods work.

5
SAMHSAs Consensus Statement

• Mental Health recovery is a journey of healing
  and transformation enabling a person with a
  mental health problem to live a meaningful life
  in a community of his or her choice while
  striving to achieve his or her full potential.

6
(No Transcript)
7
Chronic vs. Acute Illnesses

• With acute illnesses, it is reasonable to
  withdraw from life while being treated, whereas
  with chronic illnesses the patient should try to
  maintain their normal life while being treated.
• The ongoing symptoms of chronic illnesses often
  make it hard to maintain a normal life,
  necessitating rehabilitation to increase
  function, personal adaptations to cope, and
  community adaptation to maintain access to life.

8
Chronic Illnesses

• Chronic illness more often than acute illnesses
  affect peoples self identity.
• Hope is more difficult to maintain for both
  patients and professionals with chronic illnesses
  because the symptoms resist treatment and
  helplessness settles in.

9
Making Recovery Concrete

• Recovery from acute conditions usually results
  from symptom relief.
• Recovery from long term conditions usually
  results from
• Being able to maintain wellness and
  responsibility for self-care
• Being able to replace professional supports with
  natural supports
• People with long term conditions with persistent
  symptoms are those most in need of recovery based
  services

10
(No Transcript)
11
(No Transcript)
12
(No Transcript)
13
(No Transcript)
14
(No Transcript)
15
Recovery Stages

• Hope - believing the future can be better
• Empowerment - believing you can make a better
  future
• Self-Responsibility - Taking actions to make the
  future better
• Achieving meaningful roles - building a life in
  the community of your choice

16
Hope

• During times of despair everyone needs a sense
  of Hope.
• Without Hope there is nothing to look forward
  to.

17
Hope

• More than just an ideal- It has to take form as
  an actual, reasonable vision of what things could
  look like if they were to improve.
• They need to have a clear image of the
  possibilities before they can make steps to
  achieve it

18
Empowerment

• Focus on things that they can do for themselves
  not what people can give them.
• To be empowered, they need access to information
  and an opportunity to make their own choices.
• Sometimes they need encouragement someone to
  believe in them!

19
Empowerment

• Readiness often occurs only in retrospect after
  they have done something successfully.
• Waiting till they are ready to move can be
  stagnating and disempowering.
• Often people have to experience success before
  they believe they can be successful.
• Nothing is as empowering as a paycheck!!

20
Self Responsibility

• Taking responsibility for their own lives
• Take risks, try new things, learn from their
  mistakes failures
• Let go of blame, anger disappointment
  associated with MI

21
Self Responsibility

• Break old patterns of Dependancy
• Take charge instead of settling for the ease and
  safety of begin taken care of

22
Meaningful Role in Life

• They must achieve a meaningful role in life that
  is separate from the illness.
• It is important for people to join the larger
  community interact with people who are
  unrelated to their mental illness
• Get a Life

23
(No Transcript)
24

• Recovery is not a destination . . .
• its the journey.

25

• Over the years I have walked many paths with our
  members. Some of them stay in one spot, going
  over and over the same ground, pounding it into
  barrenness. Some of them take the all too
  familiar and disastrous path of substance abuse.
  And, some of them begin to walk, usually
  hesitantly at first, but after fits and starts,
  with increasing confidence on paths that improve
  their lives. - Mark Ragins, M.D.