Easier to Say ‘Recovery’ than to Do Recovery: Employees’ Experiences of Implementing a Recovery-Oriented Practice

Abstract

The aim is to investigate the change towards a recovery-supporting model for health care services in a Norwegian municipality. The model is founded on the five processes identified by Leamy et al. (British Journal of Psychiatry, 199, 445–452, 2011): Connectedness, Hope, Identity, Meaning and Empowerment, described as the acronym CHIME. To examine this change, we used focus groups, which provided a basis for qualitative content analysis. The participants were recruited from several departments of the Mental Health and Substance Use unit. We found three themes: reflections on attitudes and actions, patients not participating in matters regarding their situation, balancing paternalistic attitudes and patients’ autonomy. The findings suggest that workers have an understanding of recovery but do not know what to do differently. We advocate that there is a need for tools, mechanisms and structures on how to support a recovery-oriented approach for patients needing mental health and substance use treatment.