What Does Recovery Mean for Me? Perspectives of Canadian Mental Health Consumers

Objective: The objective of this study was to explore the meaning of recovery from the perspectives of consumers receiving mental health services in Canada. Methods: Sixty semi-structured interviews were conducted with 54 mental health consumers in Montreal, Quebec City and Waterloo-Guelph, Ontario. Results: Two contrasting meanings of recovery emerged. The first definition strongly attached recovery to illness while the second definition linked recovery to self-determination and taking responsibility for life. Conclusions: The prominence of biomedical definitions of recovery suggests the need to find common ground between these two perspectives, if conceptualizations of recovery are to include the views of consumers who routinely experience the mental health system.