Recovery plans and the role of family members

In episode 7 of CAP vers l’entourage, Catherine Champagne, a representative at Association Le PAS, discussed the topic of recovery plans and the importance of leaving a loved one’s plan in their own hands.

We asked Marie-Claude Jacques, researcher and professor of nursing science, what a recovery plan is and how family members can get involved.

“Your loved one may be offered the opportunity to create a recovery plan. In fact, I hope that is the case for all people who are dealing with mental health issues, especially those that affect functioning. When we have a mental health issue that prevents us from studying or working or from doing family or social activities, it affects our ability to take care of ourselves. It’s going to take time to recover, and recovery requires help.

It’s important to recognize the difference between a recovery plan and a treatment plan. A treatment plan is often led by a physician or psychiatrist, and sometimes other professionals. They work to treat an illness and reduce its symptoms or even make them disappear altogether. This is one part of a recovery plan.

A mental health issue may be causing you to have certain disabilities, difficulties or perhaps less focus than you had before. Or you may have been in the hospital or at a care facility for a long time. Now you would like to be independent and live in an apartment. There may be things you can try. What plans do you have for your life? What do you want to do? Do you want to go back to school? Do you want to start dating again? These goals are part of a recovery plan. It touches on all facets of a person’s life. It’s really great, because it’s not focused on how to cure your illness, but rather what type of life you want to build despite having a mental health illness or disorder.

Involving family members is really great, when possible, but it’s the person with the illness who makes the decisions. They are the ones who will say, ‘This is what’s important to me.’ They need to feel comfortable, and there needs to be open communication between everybody in order to coordinate this recovery plan with the health professionals (community nurse, occupational therapist, etc.) who will play a pivotal role. It requires openly discussing everybody’s role. Everybody needs to feel comfortable. Each plan will be different, so I can’t tell you, ‘This is exactly what you need to do.’ It’s going to depend on the person’s life plan, what they want to do, what their needs are and what role you can play in helping them achieve their own recovery.”

To learn more and discover new tools, visit the National Centre for Excellence in Mental Health website at https://cerrisweb.com/