
A
Call For change:
Toward
A RECOVERY-ORIENTED
Mental
Health Service SYSTEM
for
Adults
A
Publication
Of
The
Office
of Mental health
AND
Substance Abuse Services

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Recovery Workgroup
Members
Recovery Steering
Group Members
Drexel University
College of Medicine/Behavioral Healthcare Education
Consultant
A
Message from
It is with great optimism that I present A Call for Change: Toward a Recovery-Oriented Mental Health Service System for Adults. As I traveled around the state recently participating in the Service Area Planning meetings, it became clear to me that we are in the midst of an exciting awakening of hope, realization, and change. The meaningful stories, the emerging leadership, and the compelling impact that a strong consumer voice is having across this Commonwealth is already in evidence. This document is meant to serve as a further tool to move us toward our statewide vision that assures that every person will have an opportunity for growth and recovery.
I
wish to thank the many
individuals who stimulated our thinking and committed to the hard work
of
developing this document, especially the work of the OMHSAS Advisory
Committee
Recovery Workgroup. A Call for Change clearly represents and
honors the voice of
individuals who are experiencing recovery and their undying advocacy to
establish the realization nationally and in
A
Call for Change establishes a firm foundation for the
Most
importantly, we are called to
take the steps and risks associated with true transformation. As noted by William A.
Anthony, PhD.,
“Massive system changes must occur if the vision of recovery
is to become a
reality for an ever-increasing number of people with severe mental
illnesses. For this
very different vision to become
reality, brilliant leadership is required.”
A Call for Change
recognizes
and calls upon the brilliant leadership of all who are part of our
system –
consumers, family members, advocates, providers, policy-makers and
administrators – to effect true transformation in
OMHSAS is dedicated to building on the foundation of A Call for Change, so that the opportunity of recovery is fully supported for all who are served in our public mental health system. We look forward to your dedication in working with us to achieve this goal.

Envisioning a Transformed
System in Pennsylvania
Role of the OMHSAS
Advisory Committee and the Recovery Workgroup
Scope and Role of A
Call For Change
The
Roots of Recovery in Mental Health
Deep Roots and a Legacy of
Reform
Research &
Longitudinal Studies
Pennsylvania
Consumer/Survivor/Expatient Movement
Community Support Programs
(CSP)
Addictions, 12-Steps, and
Mutual Support
Growing Recognition and
Interest in Mental Health Recovery
More than Treatment or
Services
Indicators
of a Recovery-Oriented Service System
Indicators of Recovery
Oriented Systems
Implications
of Shifting Toward a Recovery-Oriented Mental Healthcare System
The
goal of a transformed system: Recovery[1]
“Tangata
Whai Ora”: A term chosen by and used for people with
experience of mental
illness or distress in
˜™
We have all seen them – those pictures of people confined to locked wards of rambling old hospitals, the hopeless look in their eyes, abandoned by family and friends, and facing a future that is bleak and desolate. It doesn’t matter how old those pictures are, the 1880’s, the 1940’s, the 1970’s, the eyes are still the same. At different times, there have been waves of reform to improve conditions, to institute more effective treatments, to seek new ways to promote and support healing from psychiatric disorders. We have found new, more helpful medications; we have helped people move from institutions to settings in our communities; we have found ways to help people find jobs or go back to school. We believe we have had some success in this work. And, to some degree we have. But too often, the eyes are still the same. People are still disconnected from family and friends, isolated within their communities, and often trapped in assumptions about bleak futures due to chronicity and disability.
During the past decade, many voices have risen to challenge some of the basic assumptions about mental illness and its impact on the lives of individuals and their families. People with serious mental illnesses do, in fact, recover. Some become fully symptom-free with time, while others live rich and fulfilling lives while still experiencing some psychiatric problems. The amalgamation of these voices has created what is now known as the “recovery movement” in mental health. One of the basic premises of this movement is that the role of a mental health service system is not to “do for” or to “do to”, but to “do with” – recognizing a fundamental shift in roles, power, and responsibility for providers and consumers alike. It is not about units of care, placement, or “functioning” or even a cure per se; it is about building real lives. It is both a goal or destination and a continual, very human process of growth, change, and healing.
The recovery movement is
impacting the mental
health system at all levels by challenging mental health providers,
administrators, policy-makers, funders, workers, as well as people who
experience mental health problems and their families to look at how
negative or
limiting assumptions are driving approaches to services, to funding, to
treatment, to policies, and ultimately to the course of
individual lives. The
federal government has issued a call for
sweeping transformation of the mental health service system throughout
the
Drawing from the
experiences and ideas of
Pennsylvanians, as well as contemporary literature and the experience
of other
states in tackling these changes, A Call for
Change presents what is currently known about the elements of
a
recovery-oriented mental health system and presents a set of indicators
by
which the process and outcomes of transformation may be evaluated.
OMSHAS
expects that this document will help to articulate a more detailed
vision of
what a recovery-oriented system will look like in
In November, 2004 the Pennsylvania Recovery Workgroup generated this definition of recovery to guide service system transformation in this State. It was fully endorsed by the Pennsylvania Office of Mental Health Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS) in 2005.
Recovery
is a self-determined and holistic journey that
people undertake to heal and grow.
Recovery is facilitated by relationships and environments
that provide
hope, empowerment, choices and opportunities that promote people
reaching their
full potential as individuals and community members.
Operationalizing this
definition of recovery
throughout the
Envisioning
a Transformed System
in
In 1995 Deputy Secretary
Charles Curie
developed the first OMHSAS mission statement that included an
expectation that
every person served within the system will have the opportunity for
recovery. In 2003
under the leadership
of Deputy Secretary
To support this vision, OMHSAS also identified a core set of guiding principles that outline primary tenets to be reflected in all change initiatives. These guiding principles are as follows.
The Mental Health and Substance Abuse Service System will provide quality services and supports that:
· Facilitate
recovery for adults and resiliency
for children;
· Are
responsive to individuals’ unique strengths
and needs throughout their lives;
· Focus
on prevention and early intervention;
· Recognize,
respect and accommodate differences
as they relate to culture/ ethnicity/race, religion, gender identity
and sexual
orientation;
· Ensure
individual human rights and eliminate
discrimination and stigma;
· Are
provided in a comprehensive array by
unifying programs and funding that build on natural and community
supports
unique to each individual and family;
· Are
developed, monitored and evaluated in
partnership with consumers, families and advocates;
· Represent
collaboration with other agencies and
service systems.
Role
of the OMHSAS Advisory
Committee and the Recovery Workgroup
In May 2004, OMHSAS redesigned its Advisory Committee Structure to be more inclusive and more responsive to the various stakeholder groups. This re-organized structure took on the responsibilities of the previous Mental Health Planning Council, and further identified its role to provi