This article discusses two of the most commonly advocated service improvement proposals for adults with severe mental illnesses and how, when applied together, the improvement strategies can guide the development of an optimal service system.

Salyers, Michelle P. and Macy, Veronica R. (2005). Recovery-Oriented Evidence-Based Practices: A Commentary. Community Mental Health Journal, 41(1), 91-100.

This editorial describes one simple principle that transcends all others: the principle of personhood. The personhood principle is defined as, "people with severe mental illnesses are people."

Anthony, W. A. (2004). The Principle of Personhood: The Field's Transcendent Principle. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 27(3), 205.

The New Zealand Ministry of Health and Mental Health Commission documents published a recovery approach proposal, in which the development and evaluation of an education program for people in recovery from mental health issues is described.

Clayton, Janice & Tse, Samson. (2003). An Educational Journey Towards Recovery for Individuals with Persistent Mental Illnesses: A New Zealand Perspective. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 27(1), 72-78.

This article describes the roles and responsibilities of Georgia’s certified peer specialists funded as a new billable service under Medicaid.

Sabin, J. E. & Daniels, N. (2003). Strengthening the Consumer Voice in Managed Care: VII. The Georgia Peer Specialist Program. Psychiatric Services, 54(4).

This brief report describes a participatory evaluation and planning process--a "guided reflection"--that mental health services agencies can use to examine the state of recovery awareness and implementation in their organizations. The process revolves around structured small group discussions, identification of agency strengths and weaknesses, and the formation of an agency "recovery action team" to set priorities and plan for change.

Jacobson, Nora, Greenley, Dianne, Breedlove, Lynn, & Koberstein, Jen. (2003). Guided Reflection: A Participatory Evaluation and Planning Process To Promote Recovery in Mental Health Services Agencies. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 27(1), 69-71.

The authors of this paper aim to clarify the reasoning for their goal of recovery from schizophrenia for half or more of individuals with the first episode of schizophrenia.

Liberman, Robert Paul and Kopelowicz, Alex. (2002). Recovery from schizophrenia: a challenge for the 21st century. International Review of Psychiatry, 14(4), 245-255.

Evolved versions of the two most frequently utilized modalities of New Hampshire community mental health centers are compared by measuring vocational satisfaction as it is rated by the perspective of the consumer.

Young, Keith A. (2001). Working Toward Recovery in New Hampshire: A Study of Modernized Vocational Rehabilitation from the Viewpoint of the Consumer. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 24(4), 355-367.

This article describes a conceptual model of recovery from mental illness developed to aid the state of Wisconsin in moving toward its goal of developing a recovery-oriented mental health system.

Jacobson, N. & Greenley, D. (2001). What Is Recovery? A Conceptual Model and Explication. Psychiatric Services, 52(4), 482-485.

Many mental health consumers are calling for Community Mental Health Center services to focus on creating opportunities for recovery. Community Mental Health Centers can facilitate recovery by enhancing their clinicians' abilities to communicate, teach, and support.

Torrey, WC and Wyzik, P. (2000). The recovery vision as a service improvement guide for community mental health center providers. Community Mental Health Journal, 36(2), 209-216.

This study evaluated the effects of a 16-week psychoeducational program, the Leadership Education Program, designed to promote a recovery process within the context of preparing persons with psychiatric disabilities for participation on community agency boards.

Bullock, W. A., Ensing, D.S., Alloy, V. & Weddle, C. (2000). Leadership education: Evaluation of a program to promote recovery in persons with psychiatric disabilities. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 24 (1), 3-12.

This article discusses how systems strive to create new initiatives consistent with the new vision of recovery. Based on research and current consensus around accepted practices and principles, a set of recovery focused system standards are suggested to guide future system developments.

Anthony, W. (2000). Recovery-oriented service systems: Setting some system level standards. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 24, 159-168.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the rehabilitative-recovery philosophy of mental health services and includes examples drawn from the Illinois public mental health services system.

Barton, R. (1998). The Rehabilitation-Recovery Paradigm: A Statement of Philosophy for a Public Mental Health System. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Skills, 2(2), 171-187.

The authors identify five areas that are critical for successful implementation of Individual Placement and Support programs based on their experiences with more than twelve mental health centers in several states.

Becker, D. R., Torrey, W. C., Toscano, R., Wyzik, P. F., Fox, T. S. (1998). Building Recovery-Oriented Services: Lessons Learned from Implementing Individual Placement and Support (IPS) in Community Mental Health Centers. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 22(1), 51-54.

This article outlines the fundamental services and assumptions of a recovery-oriented mental health system. As the recovery concept becomes better understood, it could have major implications for how future mental health systems are designed.

Anthony, William A. (1993). Recovery From Mental Illness: The Guiding Vision of the Mental Health Service System in the 1990s. Psychosocial Rehabilitation Journal, 16(4), 11-23.