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“What’s Wrong with the Seed?” A Comparative Examination of an Empowering Community-Centered Approach to Recovery in Community Mental Health

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Abstract

This cross-sectional group comparison aimed to examine whether personal empowerment, recovery and community integration were associated with the individual’s participation in an empowering community-centered model of intervention. Ninety-three participants from an empowering community-centered community mental health organization were compared with a matched group of individuals from standard interventions of four equivalent organizations. Results showed that participants taking advantage of the empowering community-centered approach were more involved in high recovery-oriented programs; and attained higher levels of personal goals and hope, empowerment, and of community integration. An involvement in high recovery-oriented programs (supported employment or independent housing) revealed improved outcomes for the individual. In conclusion, the findings suggested a transformative impact of the empowering community-centered model both at the individual and the program level by altering the resource accessibility and social conditions for people who experience mental illness. The implications of findings for transforming community mental health practice are discussed in detail.

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Notes

  1. The term people who experience mental illness was used by the authors to describe the study participants who are also usually described as people diagnosed with severe mental illness, consumer/survivor, or as peer specialist in community mental health literature.

  2. The research funder and institutional affiliation were described in the masked pieces send to the Editor.

  3. (the PNSM is available at http://goo.gl/TbcioI).

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Acknowledgments

The current research was supported through the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT–PTDC/PSI-PCL/113301/2009 and BD/65518/2009). Authors thank Marybeth Shinn for her contributions to our research project. We also thank project team and students for the collaboration collecting and analyzing data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ISPA – Instituto Universitário, Rua Jardim do Tabaco, No. 34, 1149-041, Lisbon, Portugal

    Maria F. Jorge-Monteiro

  2. Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, ISPA – Instituto Universitário, Lisbon, Portugal

    José H. Ornelas

Authors
  1. Maria F. Jorge-Monteiro
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  2. José H. Ornelas
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Correspondence to Maria F. Jorge-Monteiro.

Additional information

Patricia Deegan, a mental health advocate, in a conference paper from 1996 titled “Recovery and the Conspiracy of Hope”, used an analogy comparing the adversity of the environment of a seed from the sea rose flower to illustrate the challenges faced by people who experience mental illness through the recovery process.

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Jorge-Monteiro, M.F., Ornelas, J.H. “What’s Wrong with the Seed?” A Comparative Examination of an Empowering Community-Centered Approach to Recovery in Community Mental Health. Community Ment Health J 52, 821–833 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-016-0004-8

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