Narrative Matters: Mental health recovery - considerations when working with youth

Youth mental health and well-being is of increasing concern to practitioners and policy-makers. Youth experiencing mental health problems face many barriers in accessing care and often have different needs to those of adults experiencing mental health problems. In order to adequately respond to the needs of young people aged 12-25, it is necessary to understand, from their perspective, their diverse needs and their different realities, using a global health approach and through participation in the development of mental health services and care. There are documented difficulties in implementing a recovery-oriented practice approach that have led to misapplications, misunderstandings and critiques. That said, there is little research or discussion on mental health recovery by and for young people and young adults.

To help child and adolescent mental health practitioners better assess the pertinence of the mental health recovery model in their practice, a focus on the emergence of the model can be helpful in order to adapt the current conceptions of mental health recovery for work with youth.

Child and adolescent mental health professionals might want to consider the following three suggestions - consider developmental processes, focus on hope and create strong community ties.