In this short article I reflect on 32 years of working in mental health nursing and shine some light on improvements in the area of recovery over the decades.
It’s fair to say that recovery wasn’t on the agenda in my three years as a student. Working in a large Victorian asylum and a high secure hospital meant that I cared for people who had spent most of their adult lives in institutions.
While there were a lot of caring staff, the predominant attitude reflected a biological framework of understanding with an over-reliance on medication and containment.