An excellent website I have been looking at with lots of good information about Recovery and Wellbeing.
Recovery Devon is:
People of good will who support mental health Recovery
• An independent community of people of good will who support Recovery and wellbeing; both as a personal vision and as an underpinning value base to promote radical change in mental health attitudes and provision.
A partnership of peers
• A group of peers who meet on the basis of mutuality, equality and democracy; working in partnership to deliver and influence cultural change towards Recovery.
A Short History of Recovery Devon
| Laurie Davidson, an inspirational founder member of Recovery Devon, has provided the following article. |  |
Recovery as a set of radical ideas for moving away from ‘treatment and cure’ towards ‘living a good life, with or without symptoms’ had evolved in parts of the US and New Zealand in the late 1990s.
Between 2001 and 2003, a few enthusiasts in Devon were introducing the ideas in an ad hoc way through local workshops and by revising the Care Programme Approach to reflect recovery values. These enthusiasts, who were a mix of people with experience of services, either directly or as supporters, mental health professionals and voluntary sector organisers, formed a group to set up a conference with the aim of engaging as many people of good will as possible to have an effect on the whole system ‘from the bottom up’. This was a conscious decision because past experience had shown us that a ‘top down’ approach could both alienate and take away ownership.
2003 Conference
A two day conference was organised for October 2003 to fit around a visit by Mary Ellen Copeland, from Vermont, US, the founder of the Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP) approach. The week before, Dr Glenn Roberts and Laurie Davidson attended a five-day WRAP training with Mary Ellen in Stockport, which enabled a roll out of WRAP training across Devon over the next few years, with more and more WRAP trainers emerging.
| At the conference, Mary Ellen and WRAP inspired all those who attended, as WRAP translated recovery values into action in a way that was accessible for all. Self management, rather than ‘being managed’ by professionals, was such an empowering concept that there was a clear call after the conference to continue meeting to develop WRAP and recovery. |  |
Starting Out
From the small first meeting in 2003 in the back room of a café (following a long tradition of radical and revolutionary groups) in Exeter, the group has continued to meet regularly. Originally called ‘Devon Partnerships for Mental Health Recovery’, the group spread the word about recovery from within teams or peer support groups.
Recovery Devon has had no fixed membership – dates and places are advertised and meetings are open to all. A chairperson is appointed for each meeting at the meeting and there are no permanent posts within the group. This was to ensure a democratic and inclusive ethos.
More recently a small steering group has taken responsibility for ensuring that meetings take place and work taken on by the group is carried out. People who attend are just people; rather than labelled as professionals or people who use services. The group has never sought to ‘evangelise’ about or force recovery; rather to create change through feeding the energy of those who can see the huge potential for radical and permanent culture change implied within the values of recovery.
Phoenix is the editor of this site and was diagnosed with bipolar twenty years ago. In between 8 periods of illness and hospitalisation she trained as a garden designer and was a awarded an RHS Diploma, gained a first class degree in Cultural Studies and a Certificate in Education that enables her to lecture in Recovery in Mental Health to psychiatric nurse students and mental health professionals at universities.
Phoenix leads a diverse life which she attributes to Wellness Recovery Action Planning and all aspects of Recovery. In the last 2 years she performed stand up comedy. Laughter truly is the best medicine! Now she is concentrating on being involved in improving conditions for inpatients and service receivers trustwide. And training in WRAP, Recovery Star and the new Advanced Statement and some gardening for health. Also with some great new art projects. 
