The South Eastern Sydney Recovery College is showcasing a new paradigm of innovation and quality , through the use of shared lived experience expertise and clinical expertise in recovery orientated education. Recovery orientated education focuses on the process of recovery, using recovery principles. Recovery education is driven by the lived experience and clinical experience working together to create courses that are transformative and challenges consumers, carers and clinicians to think in a new and dynamic way about recovery.

This interactive workshop will provide the audience with a view of what it is like to be a student of the Recovery College. Activities used in the Recovery College courses will be facilitated and allow the audience to get a feel for the experience of learning in a new and different way.

Many well know consumer advocates such as Patricia Deegan, Mary O’ Hagan, Helen Glover and Rufus May have spoken of the principles and themes of recovery, that are important on the journey [1] [2]. The Recovery College has learned from these advocates and the lived experience of peer/consumer and carer educators to create education that is founded on recovery principles, ensuring that these principles are threaded and weaved through activities that are interactive, fun and safe for all students whether they are clinicians, consumers or carers. At a Recovery College course all students learn equally from each other and share from a diverse range of perspectives.
Recovery College courses are unique because the essences of recovery principles form a core part of the learning. Principles such as hope, a sense of self, meaning and purpose, supportive relationships, empowerment, individual responsibility, social inclusion, healthy lifestyle and advocacy amongst many others are weaved into all the Recovery Colleges courses.

Students learn that recovery is individual; they can choose their unique understanding of recovery and make meaning from their lived experience. The recovery college looks at different frameworks to explain the lived experience including cultural, spiritual, biomedical, philosophical and creative.
Recovery College courses facilitate the personal growth and wellbeing of consumers and carers and clinicians in the mental health workforce. The students learn to use recovery oriented language. The educational environment generates robust dialogue, with new meaning and purpose given to the lived experience.
The Recovery College courses are grouped into three streams: 1. Understanding mental health conditions and treatment options; 2. Rebuilding your life; and 3. Getting involved in mental health and making a difference.

Co-production with a clinician and a peer/consumer/carer educator allow the sharing of perspectives with an equality and camaraderie. Everyone learns from each other creating mental health education that is powerful and transformative as equality, respect, trust and a diversity of perspectives are shared.
Brief Plan: The sixty minute workshop provides an introduction to the Recovery College, its transformative learning environment and identifies how it is different to other education in the mental health sector. The workshop includes activities from two of the Recovery College courses including an activity from Life beyond Depression (a stream 1 course) and Taking Control of your Life (a stream 2 course).

Vicki Katsifis will facilitate an activity from the Life beyond Depression course. She will do a brainstorm on words and phrases that describe the experience of depression in a column. Then in a second column ask people to come up with phrases that turn the experience of depression into a positive and explore life beyond depression.

The audience will be asked to sit on their seat with their hands on their lap; eyes closed and incorporate a visualisation activity where they feel the words of life with depression floating away like leaves on a stream. The exercise will empower people to then experience what life beyond depression would be like in their recovery journey. The activity will ask people to reflect on the experience of how it felt for them to make the shift from life with depression to life beyond depression.

Irene Gallagher will facilitate the second activity which comes from the Taking control of your life course. The journey of recovery is described as having a solid sense of self and understanding the experience of a mental health issue is only a small part of many aspects to a person’s identity. Patricia Deegan’s work and journey of recovery will be referenced and an activity used to demonstrate all the aspects of a person’s personal identity that make them the unique person that they are. The audience will be asked to draw a diagram with a circle with their name inside it and then write around the circle all the aspects of their personal identity. The diagram will resemble a flower with the petals around it being the aspects of personal identity.
Question and answer time will follow.

Establishing a Recovery College in South Eastern Sydney: What we Did, What we have Learned and What we have Achieved.

Bringing the internationally renowned Recovery College model to Australia is currently generating a great deal of interest and excitement in mental health circles. Originating in the USA and then adapted in the UK, this model brings together consumers, carers, friends and mental health clinicians as both students and trainers in a process of ‘co-production’. Through partnerships with registered training organisations, a curriculum of courses is developed, aimed at helping people recognise and develop their personal resourcefulness so they become experts in their own self-care, can make informed choices and achieve their goals and aspirations.

A year ago, South Eastern Sydney Local Health District established a Recovery College, the first Local Health District to do so in NSW. Despite significant challenges, in its short lifespan, this innovative and ambitious project has achieved outcomes that far exceed the initial expectations.

This project has the potential to serve as a pilot for other services wishing to establish this type of service. This symposium will contain three papers that will cover establishing a Recovery College in the Australian context (including what was involved, lessons learned, future plans), the process of ‘co-production’ (how this is fundamental to the model, how it differs from traditional approaches, challenges and strategies); and the outcomes one year on (including qualitative and quantitative outcomes of an ongoing research and evaluation strategy).

PAPER 1. Getting Started: the Challenges and Successes of Implementation

The South Eastern Sydney Recovery College has been in operation since early 2014. As the first Local Health District to establish this model in NSW, and as one of the first Recovery Colleges in Australia, a great deal of work was required to interpret the model for the local context. This model has required the development of new ways for clinicians and consumers to work in ‘co-production’ and has been a pivotal part of the evolution of recovery oriented service provision in South Eastern Sydney.

This paper will provide an outline of the UK version of the Recovery College model, including its defining features and principles. We will then describe the processes involved in setting up the college from the beginning, highlighting challenges and lessons learned along the way. Issues covered will include the partnership arrangements with local Community Colleges (the registered training organisation that is our key partner and fundamental to the model) and other supporting agencies; structuring and recruitment of staffing; course development and curriculum planning; planning, marketing and promotion; and the range of governance processes and policies required. Following the presentation there will be an opportunity for audience questions and discussion.

Key Words:
-Innovation, Quality
-Lived Experience
-Service Delivery, Implementation

Learning Objectives:
1. People will gain an understanding of the Recovery College Model and the
processes and challenges involved in establishing one of the first Recovery Colleges in Australia.

2. The Recovery College model is fast gaining interest throughout Australia.
Outlining the experiences of the South Eastern Sydney Recovery College, this paper will provide insights and guidance for other services considering this model.

References
1. Meddings, S, Byrne, D, Barnicoat, S, Campbell, E & Locks, L 2014, ‘Co-Delivered and Co–Produced: Creating a Recovery College in Partnership’, Journal of Mental Health Training, Education and Practice, vol. 9 (1), pp.16-25.

2. McGregor, J, Repper, J & Brown, H 2014, ‘The college is so different from anything I have done: A study of the characteristics of Nottingham Recovery College’, The Journal of Mental Health Training, Education and Practice, vol. 9, no.1, pp. 3-15.

Authors & Co-Presenters
Jo Sommer is the Rehabilitation Coordinator for the South Eastern Sydney Mental Health Service and was instrumental in establishing the Recovery College. Jo has a background in Occupational Therapy and health leadership and management and has driven a number of recovery promoting initiatives in the Local Health District.

Sam Stott has been working in education, research, policy and advocacy roles in NSW health services for over 20 years. She has been active in the consumer-led recovery movement since 1998. Sam is passionate about transformative learning and adult education for social change. She is a Peer Educator and the Education Coordinator with the South Eastern Sydney Recovery College.

PAPER 2. Co – Production in Action - an Innovative and Transformative way of Working in Recovery Oriented Education

The South Eastern Sydney Recovery College has taken on a challenge in adopting a co production process in the development and delivery of all its courses. In this innovative new project all courses are developed and delivered by a peer/consumer or carer and a clinical educator. Overseas research has indicated that this is a revolutionary process and one that has the potential to change previously conceived ideas on the benefits of the lived experience and engendered equality, trust and a sense of working for a common purpose. Developing this new way of working in authentic partnership however has not been without its challenges.

This paper will explore the co production process, its early stages and processes, what we at the recovery college have learned from the experiences, and the benefits and challenges in working in this new way. The results of a recently published paper produced by the recovery college will be examined, including how the co-production process changed the educators, how working relationships must be mindful of respecting diverse perspectives and the importance of incorporating recovery oriented language and principles in all learning activities.

Key Words
-Lived Experience
-Mental Health Service Reform
-Workforce

Learning Objectives
1. At the end of this paper the audience will gain and learn the processes needed to develop and deliver recovery oriented education in co production with a peer/consumer and carer educator and a clinician and the benefits and challenges in this new way of working.

2. This topic is relevant to mental health services and issues as it is new innovative way of working in an equal and respectful way both clinicians and peers/consumers and carers working together in recovery oriented education.

References
1. Gill, K.H 2014 ‘Recovery Colleges: Co-Production in Action: The value of the lived experience in "Learning and Growth for Mental Health’, Health Issues, vol.113 (Summer) p.10-14.

2. The Nottingham Recovery College Co-Produced Definition of Co-delivery
© Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust 2011

Presenter
Vicki Katsifis has worked in consumer advocacy and education for twenty years. She has experience in multicultural mental health; has co-ordinated a consumer reference group and a Speaker’s Bureau. Vicki currently works at the South East Sydney Recovery College and as a trainer and for the Mental Health Coordinating Council of NSW.

(Note: Arna Rathgen is a co-author of the paper but will not be presenting)

PAPER 3. The Power of Recovery-Orientated Education. Outcomes of a 12 month Pilot Study for the South Eastern Sydney Recovery College

The South Eastern Sydney Recovery College is pioneering a new and innovative model of mental health service delivery that shifts the focus from a diagnosis and clinical treatment framework, to an empowering and educative model that focuses on an individual’s strengths, goals and aspirations.

The SESRC is based on evidence from the highly successful United Kingdom Recovery Colleges, and aligns with The National Framework for Recovery-Orientated Mental Health Services (2013) and Australia’s National Standards for Mental Health Services (2010).

Feedback on the college has been overwhelmingly positive with participation being experienced as “life-changing”, powerful and inspiring.This paper will examine the value of the recovery college framework through presentation of the preliminary outcomes and emerging themes of the South Eastern Sydney Recovery College evaluation. Methods include college participation rates, course evaluations, focus group feedback and the results of pre and post testing on sense of coherence, social connectedness and goal attainment.

Learning Objectives:
1. To demonstrate the implementation of the principles of recovery-orientated
practice within the Recovery College setting.

2. To identify the value of the Recovery College framework and the benefits associated with the inclusion of the voice of the lived experience.

Key Words:
-Lived Experience
-Service Delivery, Implementation
-Research and Evaluation informing Practice

References:
1. Australian Health Ministers Advisory Council 2008, The National Framework for Recovery Oriented Mental Health Services: A Guide for Practitioners and Providers, Commonwealth of Australia.

2. Perkins, R, Repper, J, Rinaldi, M. & Brown, H, 2012, Briefing: Implementing Recovery Through Organisational Change, Recovery Colleges, Centre for Mental Health, Mental Health Network NHS Confederation, London.

Presenter
Dr. Katherine Gill is undertaking the research and evaluation for the Recovery Colleges. Kate is a registered Occupational Therapist with a background in medical and scientific research. Kate has been involved in chronic disease management and mental health research; program implementation and service evaluation.

Note: Professor Jane Stein-Parbury is a co-author of the paper but will not be presenting.