Developing and Sustaining Recovery-Orientation in Mental Health Practice: Experiences of Occupational Therapists

Abstract EN

Background/Aim.

Internationally, mental health policy requires clinicians to shift from a medical to a recovery-oriented approach.

However, there is a significant lag in the translation of policy into practice.

Occupational therapists have been identified as ideally situated to be recovery-oriented yet limited research exploring how they do this exists.

This study aimed to explore Australian occupational therapists’ experiences of developing and sustaining recovery-orientation in mental health practice.

Methods.

Semistructured, in-depth interviews were conducted with twelve occupational therapists working across different mental health service types.

Participants identified themselves as being recovery-oriented.

Data were analysed using constant comparative analysis.

Results.

Occupational therapists described recovery-oriented practice as an active, ongoing, and intentional process of seeking out knowledge, finding fit between understandings of recovery-oriented practice and their professional identity, holding hope, and developing confidence through clinical reasoning.

Human and systemic aspects of therapists’ workplace environment influenced this process.

Conclusions.

Being a recovery-oriented occupational therapist requires more than merely accepting a specific framework.

It requires commitment and ongoing work to develop and sustain recovery-orientation.

Occupational therapists are called to extend current leadership activity beyond their workplace and to advocate for broader systemic change.