hat was a journey in its self over the past seven weeks. For me, it came full circle and the main concepts that stuck were the importance of instilling hope in the client, letting them drive the service and that they are a powerful tool in recovery. We use scenarios as examples all the time, and the media uses people, why not start letting the people going through the recovery choose their models and people to support them. 
I believe I can continue advocating for people rights as well as sharing my knowledge of this course and through my gained experiences to better the recovery journey for others. I hope that those of us that have enjoyed these materials and gleaned some sense of recovery from it can keep it, that we do not enter into a system that will challenge our boundaries or our treatment ideas with clients. I hope we all get to work for a program as forward-thinking as we are and that will only strengthen our access to the system and the helping professions. 
-Sean K

Libby Nilsson (Elizabeth) is UNKNOWN!!!

Final thoughts

This course created more questions for me than it was able to supply answers. However, that is not a bad thing, it just means it has sparked my curiosity for the future of mental health care system. What it has reminded me is that where the mental health care system started and the possibilities we get to create as professionals in this field. The final review has provided me the acknowledgment of the greenness of my journey in the recovery field but reminds me I get to continue to learn and grow. My biggest take away is that recovery is multidimensional almost an entity of itself. It infiltrates many aspects of our lives and everyone in someway is recovering. Each week provided an opportunity to link principles of recovery into my life through additional research and implementing daily interventions. This course has allowed me to be excited about the evolution of recovery and help contribute to a positive progression.

Final Thoughts

In my current work as a children's case manager I felt I had a solid foundation on many aspects of recovery. This course gave me so much inspiration how to continue to support individuals with mental health needs and challenge me to think deeper about how incredibly crucial it is to have the client's involvement every step of the way during treatment.

A few aspects of the course stuck out to me. The first aspect, in the beginning of the course, which I will carry with me is Particia Deegan speaking about how individuals are "experts in their journey of recovery." This statement really challenged me to take a good look at if my practice is client focused and I hope to carry this on as I continue in social work.

Another piece of insight I will carry with me is of Judi Chamberlain's narrative when she spoke about her time in a psychiatric hospital. Judi notes towards the article, "Recovery is for everyone." This part really spoke to me. I hope to continue to remember this piece not throughout my time as a social worker but as an advocate as well and to challenge any person who does not think recovery is for everyone.

This class definitely greatly elevated the foundation I had for client centered recovery.

(published by Jenn Luja)

Final Thoughts

My major take away from this course that there is hope. I don't mean this in a cheesy, fluffy kind of way. I mean it in a gritty, genuine sense. The mental health profession has come so far, and it seems to me that while we have so much farther to go, there is true progress being made. I ended my final review thinking about Daniel Fisher's thoughts about empowerment in regard to treatment for mental illness. What a concept it is that recovery is not merely stabilizing people so that they can learn to cope with their symptoms, but rather it is recovering in full from the disease itself. I must admit that this idea challenges me, because I have seen mental health symptoms seem pervasive and long lasting. But what a gift it is to begin a client's treatment with the belief that they can and will get better. This, to me, is hope.

I liked this class because it presented ideas that made me feel intrigued and excited to continue on in my career as a social worker. I want to bring this sort of radical hope presented by Addams, Pinel, Pussin, Deegan, Fisher, Karon, and so many more. It makes me feel lucky to know that I have chosen a profession in which I can help someone regain their power in their own life. It also makes me happy to think that I can have some part in dismantling the old, as well. The humans that I will work with in the future deserve more than the old way of doing things. Instead, I will continue to hope.

Final Review/Thoughts

             I am completing this course with a more well-rounded and in-depth understanding of the principles of recovery and my role in supporting recovery as a future mental health care professional. With a clearer and more understanding of the historical forces at work, I feel that I am better equipped to both comprehend and combat forces that work against the recovery movement.

            While completing the Final Review/Exam, I focused on connecting what I learned within each module to the principle of recovery. This allowed me to reflect on multiple principles and think through ways that I would be able to incorporate the principles into my future work. The principle of recovery that sticks out to me the most as a big “take away” from this course is “Recovery is person-driven.” This principle suggests that, “individuals optimize their autonomy and independence to the greatest extent possible by leading, controlling, and exercising choice over the services and supports that assist their recovery and resilience” (SAMHSA). Shery Mead and Mary Ellen Copeland write in What Recovery Means to Us (2000) that, “all people grow through taking positive risks.” It is my job as a (future) practitioner to support clients to take positive risks that provide the opportunity for growth.

            During this course I also had the opportunity to reflect on personal boundaries in the context of a healing relationship and what that will look like for me as a professional in the future. How can we support people with human connection while still maintaining ethical boundaries? I look forward to continuing the conversations that have been started in this class, and to learning more about how to incorporate the recovery principles into my work in the future.  

Final Thoughts

Like others that have already posted this week, I also feel it is difficult to pick just one topic that I was most impacted by. I think after looking back through the modules what stands out to me the most is the overall meaning of this class. It seems that in almost every other class I have taken related to the field of rehabilitation, I am always taught to see the positives in any situation or topic. We are always looking at the good of the field and the good of the services being provided. I enjoy that because I like to think that I am a glass half full type of person, however, I thought it was really unique and rewarding to be asked to challenge things for a change. We were asked many times over the past seven weeks to question the way we approach recovery, and I have learned a lot by doing this. Sometimes it is actually helpful to see examples of what not to do in order to better learn what to do right moving forward. Some of the articles like the Karon (2007) article about hallucinations I found fascinating and will for sure change the way I view certain types of mental illnesses like schizophrenia. The Bellevue film was moving as well, learning about the day to day life for patients at the hospital will stay will me as I move on from this class. Sometimes people are literally asking for better help like the man who kept saying "the medications don't work here, nothing works here, I hate this place" I will take away how important it is to simply listen to people rather than premake judgments about them and move on. Another general thing that I will take away from this course is learning that it is actually ok to question our field.. It seems taboo to question the field that we are all passionate about, however, this class has helped me learn that having these conversations is how we grow as better counselors, and how our field progresses towards a better future. Overall the class was quite an eye-opening journey for me.