Sailing Ideas about Mind & Mood From Stop Paddling – Setting the Scene

Recovery Principles

Throughout the Sailing Ideas series I will from time to time mention some principles for recovery. These principles apply when recovering from all kinds of crisis whether: work related or from an accident, financial, relationships and probably any crisis you could be struggling with at the moment. They are known to aid recovery from most illnesses whether mainly physical or mental. These basic principles are sometimes called pillars of recovery from the way they support effective recovery actions.

Five principles:

1. HOPE

When something traumatic happens we can temporarily lose hope. We may for a while not be able to imagine how we can ever rebuild our lives. Sometimes hope disappears gradually as we try again and again with each time things not working out right. Hope can disappear in an instant if for example you are diagnosed with an illness that you are told is incurable. Often we do not, so much, lose hope as have it taken away by others. For example, a health professional saying, “We are treating a chemical imbalance here, do not think about recovery.”

How much hope do we need to start recovering? My experience is: Just one tiny spark! In helping people recover, just the tiniest bit of hope is often all that is needed to make a huge difference.

2. PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY

"As one goes through life, one learns that if you don't paddle your own canoe, you don't move." Katharine Hepburn

Whatever crisis we go through, we know that recovery takes a long time if we are looking for others to do everything for us. As soon as we decide that it is up to us, to recover then things really start to happen.

How much personal responsibility do we need to start recovering? We probably do not need as much personal responsibility as most people imagine. It is human nature that everyone wants to be associated with people who want to do well. When we are seen to be determined to recover, we will start to find others who want to help us, so we will not be struggling on our own for long.

3. SELF – AGENCY (using your strengths)

This used to be called self-advocacy, meaning speaking up for yourself. The agency idea is that rather than relying on someone else to say what it is that we need, we start saying what we need for ourselves. Example: I contacted Stephen Fry’s agent to ask if Stephen would like to read my book. The reply was… “Stephen is not doing manic depression (MD) now……… He has moved onto other things.” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing and said to my wife that after nearly 30 years of `doing’ MD, I would love to stop `doing’ MD (be instantly cured) and move onto other things. Then I realised that Mr Fry’s agent never actually asked Stephen about my book, probably having judged there was no money in it. We do not need agents like this. Recovery depends on being able to say what it is we need and want to do.

Adding the words `using your strengths’ takes the idea a step further in that we recover best as we start to DO recovery based activities for ourselves. It could be as simple as deciding that you will go for a walk every morning before breakfast or that you will phone your best friend every Sunday evening. It is a principle about DOING things when you need to do them for your recovery. Strengths: It is also about learning what you are good at and doing more of things you are good at, rather than always being told what to do by some expert.

4. EDUCATION

How much education do we need for recovery? LOADS! Whatever crisis you have been through, ongoing education is essential to avoid that same awful thing happening again. It is said that, “We are creatures of habit” and “History has a habit of repeating itself” and “If you always do what you have always done, you will get always get what you have always got!”

I have found through painful experience that all the above ideas are true. Reluctantly I have come to accept that I need to know my `enemies’. Now, when my life is not working out as it should I learn all I can about challenges I am facing. This sounds painful. Loads of text books to read? It doesn’t need to be so hard. The best way I have found is to get connected to people who are experts by experience:

If you’ve got a problem with stress or bipolar disorder I am here ? Roger.
If you’ve been labelled with schizophrenia see what Peter Bullimore has to say – he’s brilliant!
If you’ve got a weight problem you might want to talk directly to an expert like Kay Illingworth.
If you have a new business that isn’t going the way you would like, try Andrew Halfacre.

These are some of the people I have met through my work who are used to helping people recover. There are thousands more people like this in the world. Learning about recovery doesn’t have to be hard work – start by listening to people who have learnt by experience.

This does not mean education is an easy principle. If you are going to be really robust then you probably will need to read books, leaflets, watch documentaries, listen to experts on the radio. Sometimes the exact answers you need can be in the most unlikely places, like in films or song lyrics. Education is a life long activity – it can and should be fun.

5. SUPPORT

With our SMTP course, support is seen as vital although we leave the subject until near the end of the final day, reflecting how it is easiest to build support when you have everything else in place. In WRAP support is the 5th principle.

Support is a massive subject. We each need many types of support and we all need different amounts of support. It is support that when something bad happens can make the difference between us falling into a crisis or being able to take events in our stride.

It can be hard to admit that we do not have the best skills for gaining support. It is like admitting that we struggle to make and keep friends. But if we can HOPE to be better, take RESPONSIBILITY for learning new skills and can EDUCATE ourselves about how to gain the SUPPORT we need, then we can recover from almost anything.

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© Copyright Roger Smith 2007