Personal recovery means different things to different people. It is often described as living a fulfilled, meaningful, and purposeful life. Sometimes people call it a journey or a transformation.

SAMHSA’s Working Definition of Recovery

Recovery is…a process of change through which individuals improve their health and wellness, live a self-directed life, and strive to reach their full potential

 Many people think that recovery means “cure”. Sometimes recovery is understood as clinical recovery, which is a psychiatric term that refers to “full symptom remission” and a return to the function level that existed before the illness set in.

Throughout this course, we will focus on personal recovery. Personal recovery doesn’t necessarily mean that you will be cured and free of all symptoms. What it does mean is that you define your way forward, you own it, and you move towards living a meaningful life – the life that you want to live – in a way that you feel connected, hopeful, valued, included, empowered, and satisfied with or without symptoms.

(reference: Slade M., Longden E. Empirical evidence about recovery and mental health. BMC Psychiatry. 2015;15:285. doi: 10.1186/s12888-015-0678-4. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar])