• Hope for the future is the cornerstone of recovery. A recovery-focused system of care conveys hope to consumers, families and professionals alike. Recovery is an on-going and individual process. Personal goals are not defined by the professional, but defined by the consumer. It is an individual process that supports choice and exploring alternatives based on consumers’ and families’ values, strengths and interests.
• Recovery work addresses both the experience of symptoms and the additional effects of having a mental illness such as stigma and discrimination.
• Recovery means developing a sense of control over one’s life and taking responsibility for the course of one’s future. Rather than focusing on pathology and on the past, recovery is present and future directed. It focuses on improving a person’s capabilities and confidence and setting goals.
• Recovery is a partnership using both professional interventions as well as self-directed coping strategies.
• Recovery is enhanced when people develop social networks for support and friendship. It enables consumers to identify allies and supports in their natural environments.

The following strategies need to be implemented in a recovery driven system of care:

• Self help – consumers develop friendships and a rewarding social life through structured self-help programs as well as informal self-help networks. Self-help services are not a replacement for traditional services, but rather an enhancement that adds another element to their care continuum.
• Traditional services – providers need to join with consumers in the recovery journey. Consumer empowerment is not about focusing on the opposing purposes of the patient/professional relationship, but rather about consumers and professionals partnering with each other to achieve consumer-identified goals.
• Medication – for many consumers, medication is a critical tool to recovery. Providers must be willing, however, to listen to the consumer about the effects of the medication and partner with consumers to find the right dosage and combinations of medications.
• Vocational programs – consumers want meaning and purpose to their lives. They find meaning in paid work, volunteer work, and homemaking, pursing their education and other goal-directed activities. These endeavors give hope, and provide meaningful activities that takes the focus away from the illness and place it on positive goal and future directed activities.
• Significant others – families, spouses and other significant people are important to the consumer’s recovery. This is why it is necessary to involve, encourage and support families whenever possible.
• Knowledge - about and acceptance of the illness. Consumers believe that knowledge is power. They benefit from education and information about the course and outcomes of their disorders.
• Spiritual-life programs - focus on the whole person and add the spiritual dimension to the recovery process. Spiritual is defined by the consumer and may or may not be related to organized religion.
• Housing programs - allow consumers to move through a continuum of living arrangements to be able to live as independently as possible.