Recovery model

Domain V · Systemic, relational, group & community

What it is

The recovery model is not a single therapy with a manual. It is a framework and a service philosophy that came out of the service-user/consumer movement. It changes what treatment is for and how the clinician relates to the person. You add it to whatever therapy you already practise and to the team…

Format

• Format. The model has no fixed number of sessions. It runs across the whole episode of care:
• The STORI can be used to estimate the current stage. The authors call it preliminary: cluster analysis found three groups of items, not five.

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• How do you and the practitioner understand what is happening, in spiritual or cultural terms? Is that a source of comfort, worry, or both?
• Does it use a device, heat, cold, water or a physical procedure? Has a medical professional checked that it is safe for you?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• Token involvement.
• Staff taking over the planning.
• Power statements written for the person rather than by them.
• Measures used only for audit and never fed back to the client.
• MI used to steer people toward the service's goals rather than their own.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.