Recovery principles

At a 2004 National Consensus Conference on Mental Health Recovery and Mental Health Systems Transformation convened by SAMHSA, patients, health-care professionals, researchers and others agreed on 10 core principles undergirding a recovery orientation:

• Self-direction: Consumers determine their own path to recovery.

• Individualized and person-centered: There are multiple pathways to recovery based on individuals’ unique strengths, needs, preferences, experiences and cultural backgrounds.

• Empowerment: Consumers can choose among options and participate in all decisions that affect them.

• Holistic: Recovery focuses on people’s entire lives, including mind, body, spirit and community.

• Nonlinear: Recovery isn’t a step-by-step process but one based on continual growth, occasional setbacks and learning from experience.

• Strengths-based: Recovery builds on people’s strengths.

• Peer support: Mutual support plays an invaluable role in recovery.

• Respect: Acceptance and appreciation by society, communities, systems of care and consumers themselves are crucial to recovery.

• Responsibility: Consumers are responsible for their own self-care and journeys of recovery.

• Hope: Recovery’s central, motivating message is a better future — that people can and do overcome obstacles.