Recovery Is a Personal and Unique Process

Recovery is a personal and unique process that involves the changing of an individual's values, attitudes, feelings, skills, goals and roles.it basically involves a way of living life that is hopeful, satisfying and contributing even with limitations that are caused by illnesses.it involves developing new purpose and meaning in an individual's life as they grow beyond the effects that are brought by mental illnesses. The process of recovery has several concepts and they include finding and maintaining hope. This involves having a strong belief in one self, having a sense of personal agency and being optimistic of what the future might bring. Another component is the reestablishment of self-identity .this involves finding a new identity that takes in the illness while at the same time retaining positive sense of one self as being core. Another component is the building of a life that is meaningful. This involves the making sense of illnesses, making a meaning out of life despite the occurrence of the illness and being engaged in life. The final component involves taking control and responsibility. This means that the individual is in control of the illness and their life (Slade, Boardman, & Shepherd, 2008).

From all these domains of recovery hope is seen as being central to recovery .this can be enhanced by every individual through seeing how they can be able to have more control over their lives and through seeing how others have managed to get a way forward. The process of recovery is greatly driven by hope. The process of recovery involves five stages all of which can be linked to hope as the center of the process of recovery. Morotorium is the first stage which is characterized by a profound sense of an individual loss and hopelessness.at this stage, the recovering individual has no hope at all of being better. The next stage is awareness whereby the individual comes to the realization that they have not lost everything completely and that a life which is fulfilling is still possible.at this stage the individual begins to get some hope back as they realize that they have not lost everything totally. Preparation is the next stage of the process of recovery which involves one taking stock of their own strengths and weaknesses when it comes to the process of recovery and beginning to work on the development of recovery skills. The next stage is rebuilding which involves working towards an identity which is positive, setting goals that are meaningful and taking control of their life.at this stage the individual needs to have a lot of hope so that they can work actively towards rebuilding. The last stage is growth whereby the individual lives a meaningful life that is characterized by self-management of the illness, resilience and the positive of one self.