Behind the Rhetoric: Mental Health Recovery in Ontario

Abstract

Mental Health Recovery in Ontario-i was pleased to be asked to review it. recovery is an idea that is widely present in the mental health community. the mental Health commission of canada recently released a strategy entitled Toward Recovery and Well-Being, and a report prepared by the ontario Advisory Group to the minister of Health on the provincial mental Health and Addictions Strategy was entitled Respect, Recovery, Resilience. in reading poole's book, i was hoping for some pithy gems of wisdom-key take-home messages that would simplify my work in this area. (i am a health services researcher.) However, such was not the case. Jennifer poole is not trying to simplify. As the title suggests, she has undertaken a nuanced and multilayered analysis of the rhetoric of recovery. She examines how recovery is defined, how recovery is talked about, the various recovery models, the business of recovery and, within all of this, the strong passions, disagreements, and fears that recovery elicits. there are no simple messages. As poole notes, the idea/movement/vision that is recovery may not be "as straightforward and positive as it looks" (p. 12). rather, poole leaves the reader with a clearer appreciation of the complexity of the construct and the issues to consider in any candid discussion or undertaking that involves recovery.