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Mental health, recovery and inclusion

Community inclusion is good for mental health

A powerful factor in facilitating recovery and support is connectedness – to self and others.
Many people’s recovery stories indicate the potency of friendship, acceptance and respect shown by friends and community allies.
Mental health professionals can help facilitate people’s links to community.
Communities and relationships are important for recovery.
You have the power to play a role. If you know someone in your family or neighbourhood who is struggling with, or recovering from mental health challenges, you can play an important role by holding hope for the person, by extending a hand of friendship, by offering everyday acceptance, or by connecting the person to activities or groups they want to be a part of.

Recovery from mental health challenges is possible

Many people grow and learn through their mental health experience – this is sometimes called ‘recovery’.

Everyone's journey of recovery is different and often very personal.
People have different experiences of the mental health system - some find their medication and health professionals helpful, others do not.
Some people experiencing mental health challenges claim that family support, peer support and community engagement is just as important as 'treatment' in recovery.

A Place to Belong draws heavily from a recovery framework and a strengths framework for our practice.
For more information about mental health and recovery, visit our Links and support page.
For resources on recovery, visit our Newsletters and resources page.

Mental health challenges will occur for people you know

Mental health is a huge issue in our community. Almost a half of Australians will experience a mental health disorder of some kind, at some time in our lives (source: Australian Bureau of Statistics National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing 2007).

“It’s been an invaluable experience. Hearing the person's story and then having some pretty open discussion about how our lives can be different has given me hope”.
~ Comment from participant at a Sunday afternoon workshop