title: Recovery Camp: Assisting consumers toward enhanced self-determination.
abstract: Mental health consumers are often socially isolated and may lack the basic leisure competencies which serve as a critical building block for community (re)integration. Therapeutic recreation (TR), as a treatment modality for people with mental illness, is yet to be fully embraced in the Australian health-care setting, despite having a strong historical foundation in North America. A team of academics created a TR experience, termed Recovery Camp, which was designed to collectively engage consumers and future health professionals drawn from a range of discipline areas. The 2014 Recovery Camp was staged over a five day period and involved 28 adult consumers living with mental illness. Consumers undertook a diverse range of experiential recreation activities engineered to facilitate individual engagement and to encourage the development of positive therapeutic relationships and teamwork. The camp atmosphere was deliberately community-based and recovery-oriented, valuing the lived experience of mental illness. Using a 2 × 3 design involving a camp and comparison group, the study sought to examine the influence of a TR programme on the self-determination of individuals with a mental illness. Those who participated in the Recovery Camp reported an increase in awareness of self and perceived choice post-camp, relative to the comparison group. While this difference remained significant for awareness of self at three-month follow-up, there was no significant difference in perceived choice between the two groups at follow-up. Study findings serve to support the role of recreation within a recovery framework to positively change the health-related behaviour of mental health consumers.
authors.affiliation: Global Challenges Program, University of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Ellie
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.affiliation: School of Education, University of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Dana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Perlman
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, University of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Lorna
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Moxham
authors.affiliation: School of Business, University of Queensland, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Shane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pegg
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, University of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Patterson
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, University of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Renee
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Brighton
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, University of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sumskis
authors.affiliation: Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District.
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Heffernan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002165:Camping; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000534:rehabilitation / Q000628:therapy*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D026684:Personal Autonomy; D011998:Recreation
keywords: Recovery Camp; adult; lived experience recovery; mental health; self-determination