Mental Health “Recovery”: Users and Refusers is the final report of a study that asked the question: what do psychiatric survivors in Toronto think about mental health “recovery”? This research recognizes the emergence of “recovery” as the new “talk” of community mental health services not just here but in the United States, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand. It addresses the fact that amidst a surge of “recovery” related research there are few critical voices especially from the people “recovery” promises to “heal” and “help.” Thus, our primary concern has been to make psychiatric survivors central in both directing this study and acting as participants.
The advisory committee for this project gratefully acknowledges the financial support and patient guidance of the Wellesley Institute in Toronto, with special thanks to our project advisor, Brenda Roche. We acknowledge the support of the Ryerson-RBC Institute for Disability Studies Research and Education and in particular the assistance of Jijian Voronka.