principles into practice network

Long term mental illness and recovery

Topics covered in this article:

Category sponsored by the Scottish Recovery Network

For some people mental ill health might, like any illness be a passing thing. The person may experience a full recovery and may never come into contact with services again. For others living with poor mental health may be more of a long-term experience, with the need for on-going care, treatment and support - either in hospital or in the community.

We recognise that people with long-term mental illness may also have a learning disability or dementia and in 2010 -11 submission from people working with these conditions were accepted within this category. Shortlisting panels looked at submitted bids from this category to see how they demonstrated

• a recovery based approach to the care and treatment of long-term mental ill health.
• care and treatment that was delivered in the least restrictive way possible
• positive approaches to managing individual risk, that supported recovery and maximised the person's freedom to choose.
• access to a programme of meaningful, tailored activities in and out of hospital
• support for people to maintain and develop links with the community

Click on the links below to find out more about the shortlisted projects

AWARD WINNER:

Redhall Walled Garden - Category winner

Click here to view video as windows media file

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Redhall Walled Garden is a beautiful 18th Century Walled Garden within a 6 acre estate which offers training in horticulture, conservation, maintenance skills, ITC/admin and life skills for people with mental health problems.The service supports up to 50 service users -who prefer to be called trainees - from within Edinburgh City at any given time. The service is based on the working week and people who train there do this on a contractual basis. Placements are for 3-5 days per week, are not time limited and people can self-refer to the project. People who come to Redhall work collaboratively to develop a centre of excellence in horticulture, conservation, training , IT, administration and mental health awareness.

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SAMH Gateways

SAMH Gateways works with people experiencing severe and enduring mental health problems in Inverclyde, providing an alternative route for activity that promotes mental wellbeing. Clear evidence suggests that Inverclyde has significant health challenges and we know mental ill health has a direct impact on levels of exclusion and deprivation. In response Gateways supports recovery through tackling social isolation and developing natural support networks, where self management is promoted enhancing the quality of peoples' lives.

Penumbra - Queens Drive Supported Accommodation

Penumbra is a leading Scottish voluntary organisation working in the field of mental health. Since its establishment in 1985 Penumbra has developed a range of person centred supported accommodation services throughout Scotland. We also provide respite care, supported living services and services for young people.

Our project consists of a supported accommodation service in Falkirk (Queens Drive), comprising of a 4 bedroom family home in a quiet area of Falkirk. We provide a flexible, recovery focussed model of support to 4 adults.

Penumbra - Dundee Nova Project

The Dundee NOVA Project began providing a service in January 2008. The focus of the project is to work with people according to the principles of social inclusion, using person-centred planning and self help techniques to link people to their community and promote recovery. The project supports people to live the life that they desire, as described by them, in a way that gives each person the opportunity to make decisions for themselves, to do as much for themselves as is possible, and to believe that they have the skills, talent and purpose to help themselves. It doesn't matter how old, young, well or unwell someone is, or how long we have been supporting them, they work in a way that maximises the control someone has over their own life, that is respectful of them and their views, that increases their hope and feelings of self worth.