Evaluation of the mid Essex Recovery College, October – December 2013

Introduction: Recovery from mental health difficulties involves a process of making sense of what has happened, becoming an expert in self-care, building a new sense of purpose, discovering your own resourcefulness, and using resources in order to pursue goals. Recovery Colleges aim to assist people in the journey to recovery through education, bringing together both professional and lived experience of mental health challenges in a non-stigmatising college environment. Following promising evaluation results elsewhere in the UK, a decision was taken to pilot a Recovery College in Mid Essex for one year, beginning in the autumn of 2013. The North Essex Research Network (NERN), a group of current or former mental health service users, was commissioned to evaluate the pilot. Methods: Recovery College students completed measures of social inclusion and mental wellbeing at the beginning of their college attendance (baseline) and again three months later (follow-up). Demographic information was collected on the baseline questionnaire and further ratings of students’ experiences of the college were collected at follow-up. The measures were supplemented with qualitative data collected via two focus groups and an individual interview. Results: Scores on both measures improved from baseline to follow-up. At follow-up the majority of participants rated their experience of the college very positively. Additional comments on the questionnaires and the views of participants in the focus groups and interview support the quantitative results. Participants identified a wide range of ways in which their wellbeing and social inclusion had improved, and also put forward suggestions for further developing the Recovery College.