Kent and Medway RECOVERY COLLEGE Natalie Diab-Bale and her team share the supportive environment fostered at their Recovery College
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ost occupational therapists reading this magazine, whether you are a student OT, a practicing OT, or an OT returning to work, will have an awareness of recovery colleges; what they do, the way they do it and how they can support communities. According to ImRoc 2021, there are currently a total of 85 recovery colleges in the UK; 77 in England, two in Scotland, five in North Ireland and one in Wales. Recovery colleges provide peer-supported spaces where people can improve their health and wellbeing opportunities in a shared and safe learning environment. They work around specific guiding principles, some being that they are ‘open to all’ and that they ‘coproduce’ their service and provisions with a valuable
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-magazine.co.uk
collaboration between those with lived expertise and those with clinical or learned expertise. Recovery colleges have been able to justify their effectiveness over the past few decades through robust evaluations. The expansion and delivery of such wonderful provisions is continuing to grow, and they are now in a better position to respond to the needs of their local communities, including individuals and stakeholders. Considering the enormous strain on many statutory services and a reduction in funding for some third sector provisions, many recovery colleges are able to offer meaningful, sustainable and empowering resources and self-care information to their communities, which can improve health, wellbeing and quality of life. The colleges’ style, ethos and practices challenge typical medical model ways of working. For example, they have resisted the emphasis on hierarchy and have a more inclusive structure in regards to decision-making. There is less focus on impairment, the environment is
