The Engine of Recovery

I once had a professor that told me that the more something is written or talked about, the less folks really know about it. Some would assert that recovery from mental illness is one such well worn subject.

The din of discussion and debate is great among as yet undiagnosed professionals, politicians, insurance actuaries. Their thinking regarding recovery runs the spectrum from the metaphysical to monetary. One can only hope that their dialog will give rise to a public policy of possibility, rather than that of promises empty and negotiated neglect.

I assert the investment in recovery must be economic, as well as, intellectual. Here there can be no debate, ” A field does not get plowed by turning it over in ones mind.”

Granted the transformational nature of recovery can appear quite magical. However, reflecting on my own journey, I assure you magic has nothing to do with it.

The engine that powered my journey towards recovery was and remains, access to needed supports, as needed, first class health care, reasonable symptom control, meaning, as well as, in my case a strong economic incentive. Remove any component and the engine would have stopped.

Rhetoric does not a single recovery make. Again, the investment must be intellectual and economic. If the engine of recovery, or any of its vital components are neglected, the probability of recovery will be diminished, if not all together doomed to failure. Long term gain whether metaphysical or monetary, will similarly be diminished if not doomed.