Robert Hurst, Jerome Carson, Aishath Shahama, Hollie Kay, Courtney Nabb and Julie Prescott
The purpose of this paper is to review the 16 published non-student Recovery Heroes and Remarkable Lives accounts published in Mental Health and Social Inclusion, using the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review the 16 published non-student Recovery Heroes and Remarkable Lives accounts published in Mental Health and Social Inclusion, using the connection, hope, identity, meaning and empowerment (CHIME) framework.
Design/methodology/approach
All 16 accounts were rated independently by four researchers and evaluated in terms of whether each account met the five criteria for the CHIME model.
Findings
All accounts met the criteria for the CHIME model, with the exception of one, which still met four of the five criteria. Evidence was presented which suggests that the model can be extended to creativity, connectedness, hope, identity, meaning and empowerment (C-CHIME), to incorporate creativity.
Research limitations/implications
While a certain level of subjectivity is required in deciding how each account meets the CHIME criteria, there were high levels of inter-rater reliability within the research team. Creativity had a central place in all the accounts.
Practical implications
The revised C-CHIME model can be used by practitioners to examine accounts of recovery in a more focussed manner and may also help in devising recovery action plans.
Social implications
The recovery model privileges both professional and lived experience perspectives on recovery. The current review highlights how much we can benefit from the wisdom contained in first person accounts.
Originality/value
This review adds to the existing literature and highlights the importance of creativity for mental health recovery.
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Robert Hurst and Jerome Carson
The purpose of this paper is to review the 20 remarkable lives of student accounts published in this journal. These recovery narratives (RNs) are examined first in terms of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review the 20 remarkable lives of student accounts published in this journal. These recovery narratives (RNs) are examined first in terms of whether they meet the five elements of the connectedness, hope, identity, meaning and empowerment (CHIME) model of recovery and then in terms of what makes each account remarkable.
Design/methodology/approach
Two Excel spreadsheets were created. One had each author’s name and the five elements of the CHIME model, the other the features of a remarkable life.
Findings
All 20 accounts fulfilled the criteria for the CHIME model, independently validating this model of recovery. Hence, each account showed evidence of connectedness, hope, identity, meaning and empowerment. A number of additional characteristics stood out from the accounts such as the importance of motherhood and of education.
Research limitations/implications
All 20 accounts were only reviewed by the two authors, who may be subject to bias. To reduce this, the first author did the bulk of the ratings. This paper shows the importance of education for recovery.
Practical implications
Some 15/20 accounts reported problems with mental health services, mainly around waiting lists. Must mental health always remain a Cinderella service?
Originality/value
This is the first attempt to synthesise this particular set of recovery narratives, entitled remarkable lives. These accounts show the richness of the recovery journeys embarked on by many sufferers and these are just drawn from one University. Like the authors of these stories, we too as recovery specialists have much to learn from their inspiring accounts.
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Jana Rozenhalova and Jerome Carson
The purpose of this paper is to provide a profile of Jana Rozenhalova.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a profile of Jana Rozenhalova.
Design/methodology/approach
Jana provides a short summary of her life and is then interviewed by Jerome.
Findings
Jana tells us about her long struggles with eating disorders and provides us with the metaphor that it is like being a broken cup glued back together again. You have to be very careful it does not break again.
Research limitations/implications
Jana’s story is one, yet it offers us unique insights. She comments at one point, “[…] if it was not for the eating disorders […] I would not be me”.
Practical implications
Jana notes that while she could see many reasons behind her eating disorders, they did not really matter. What mattered was that she could overcome them.
Social implications
While Jana first thought hope was an empty word, she now realises in retrospect that she was more hopeful than anyone she knew. As Patricia Deegan (1996) puts it, “Hope is not just a nice sounding euphemism. Hope and biological life are inextricably intertwined” (p. 93).
Originality/value
Jana concludes her account saying she would like to be able to look back at her life and feel that she had lived up to her potential. Most of us would also be happy with that outcome.
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Shelley Seaton and Jerome Carson
The purpose of this paper is to provide a profile of Shelley Seaton.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a profile of Shelley Seaton.
Design/methodology/approach
Shelley gives a short background to her life story and is then interviewed by Jerome.
Findings
Shelley tells us about a number of life events that impacted on her mental health issues, starting with childhood bullying and also abusive relationships.
Research limitations/implications
The case study approach privileges the person’s lived experience. It also lets us see the unique complexity of each person’s story.
Practical implications
Shelley received little help in the form of counselling either at school or when she experienced post-natal depression.
Social implications
When mental health problems start in childhood, schools have a vital role to play. While the bullying stopped when Shelley’s Mum went to the school, the damage was already done. She was given no support to help her through this.
Originality/value
Patricia Deegan has asked, “Could you have survived what this person has survived?” (Deegan, 1996, p. 95). Shelley’s story is a tale of survival.
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Lillian T. Eby, Melissa M. Robertson and David B. Facteau
Interest in employee mindfulness has increased dramatically in recent years, fueled by several important conceptual articles, numerous studies documenting the benefits of…
Abstract
Interest in employee mindfulness has increased dramatically in recent years, fueled by several important conceptual articles, numerous studies documenting the benefits of mindfulness for employee outcomes, and the adoption of mindfulness-based practices in many Fortune 500 organizations. Despite this growing interest, the vast majority of research on employee mindfulness has taken an intrapersonal focus, failing to appreciate the ways in which mindfulness may enhance work-related relational processes and outcomes. The authors explore possible associations between mindfulness and relationally oriented workplace phenomena, drawing from interdisciplinary scholarship examining mindfulness in romantic relationships, child–parent relationships, patient–healthcare provider relationships, and student–teacher relationships. A framework is proposed that links mindfulness to three distinct relationally oriented processes, which are expected to have downstream effects on work-related relational outcomes. The authors then take the proposed framework and discuss possible extensions to a variety of unique workplace relationships and discuss critical next steps in advancing the relational science of mindfulness.
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Discussion of the 2016 electorate has centered on two poles: results of public opinion and voter surveys that attempt to tease out whether racial, cultural, or economic grievances…
Abstract
Discussion of the 2016 electorate has centered on two poles: results of public opinion and voter surveys that attempt to tease out whether racial, cultural, or economic grievances were the prime drivers behind the Trump vote and analyses that tie major shifts in the political economy to consequential shifts in the voting behavior of certain demographic and geographic groups. Both approaches render invisible a major development since the 1970s that has been transforming the political, social, and economic landscape of wide swaths of people who do not reside in major urban areas or their prosperous suburban rings: the emergence and consolidation of the carceral state. This chapter sketches out some key contours of the carceral state that have been transforming the polity and economy for poor and working-class people, with a particular focus on rural areas and the declining Rust Belt. It is meant as a correction to the stilted portrait of these groups that congealed in the aftermath of the 2016 election, thanks to their pivotal contribution to Trump's victory. This chapter is not an alternative causal explanation that identifies the carceral state as the key factor in the 2016 election. Rather, it is a call to aggressively widen the analytical lens of studies of the carceral state, which have tended to focus on communities of color in urban areas.