Launch of ‘Steps to Recovery’ website, DVD and booklet

Mental illness and social attitudes to mental illness often impose limits on people experiencing ill health. Health professionals, friends and families can be overly protective or pessimistic about what someone with a mental health problem will be able to achieve. Recovery is about looking beyond those limits to help people achieve their own goals and aspirations.

The Northern Trust has today launched Steps to Recovery, three new resources designed to encourage those living with mental health difficulties that it is possible to regain full control over their lives.

The three resources include a Recovery website www.mentalhealthrecoverystories.hscni.net, DVD and inspirational stories booklet have been developed as resources for mental health recovery. They include personal accounts of eight individuals in the Northern Trust area who have had mental health challenges in their life and the process they have gone through. Each person’s account has shown that mental health challenges and the experiences that surround them can create a newly formed sense of purpose and understanding. These stories have been shared to help others believe that despite difficult times there is hope and recovery can occur.

There is a link to the DVD and inspirational stories booklet on the Recovery Website and copies are also available from Rosemary Hawthorne at the contact details below.

Putting recovery into action means focusing care on supporting recovery and building the resilience of people with mental health problems, not just on treating or managing their symptoms.

Rosemary Hawthorne, Recovery Facilitator, Northern Trust said: “Recovery emphasises that, while people may not have full control over their symptoms, they can have full control over their lives. Recovery is not about ‘getting rid’ of problems. It is about seeing beyond a person’s mental health problems, recognising and fostering their abilities, interests and dreams. Experiences of mental illness can provide opportunities for change, reflection and discovery of new values, skills and interests.”

For further information about Steps to Recovery service please contact Rosemary Hawthorne, Recovery Facilitator, Room 45, Inver 3 Corridor, Holywell Hospital, 60 Steeple Road, Antrim BT41 2RJ Telephone: (028) 9446 5211 ext 2003 or email rosemary.hawthorne@northerntrust.hscni.net

21st March 2014