In the past, recovery seemed to be a straightforward concept. Recovery referred to people recovering from a serious mental illness or other health conditions, or a person getting to a point where he/she no longer has any signs or symptoms of mental illness. Professor Michael Rowe and his team from Yale School of Medicine emphasize the second meaning of recovery, that is recovery as a process through which people reclaim their lives even while continuing to experience symptoms of mental illness (Rowe and Davidson, 2016), and they originated the concept of citizenship to promote the quality of life of people with mental distress through creating a facilitative social environment, and to make valuable contributions to the community and society. Hence, personal recovery has turned to focus on personally unique experiences in meaning-making and reclaiming a positive sense of self, despite facing mental difficulties.
While a Recovering Citizenship (RC) project has been initiated in a local hospital, RC has not been extensively discussed nor fully implemented in mainstream community mental health services in Hong Kong. RFHK has taken up a pioneering role to bridge this gap between mental health services and recovering citizenship movement in the local context since 2020. The AsPac 2023 will focus on the mental wellness of people in recovery together with the concepts of care, collaboration, and citizenship, the three forefronts of mental wellness strategies.
Rowe, M., & Davidson, L. (2016). Recovering Citizenship. Israel Journal of Psychiatry and Related Sciences, 53(1), 14-21.
