This book is a powerful testament to the importance of story. Narrative can take us on a journey through the reality of pain and suffering, exploring the richness of human experience, and incorporating the possibility of recovery and change. Unsentimental, lightly edited and intelligently framed by short essays from mental health professionals, this book is a welcome draft of realistic optimism for all those involved in the world of mental health provision. More importantly, it is also an inspiration for service users. Offering hope without being patronising, acknowledging anger, shame and disagreement with the professional view, without giving up on constructive dialogue, this book should be made widely available in hospital and community settings. Chris Lee. The new national mental health and well-being strategy includes the objective that more people with mental health problems will recover (HM Government, 2011). Over years, my local mental health services (the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust) have developed a Recovery Story project with many service users, and in 2011 they have been recognised as a beacon within the Supporting Recovery initiative, to show the way for other trusts. My recommendation for many other places is that all 14 of these Stories of recovery and hope could help show the way. This book gave me hope because of it's focus on the uniqueness and diversity of personal experience. I would definitely recommend this book to those with any experience of psychosis and those involved in caring or supporting them. Wendy Kimble. The meat of the book is in the chapters in which individuals give their background, describe their transition to illness, report their experience with hospitalization and treatment providers, and share their movement to recovery with a sense of hope. This structure in each chapter makes the material interesting and educational. The personal stories, which are very open and told with great simplicity, invite readers into a land they might not have visited. Those who do deal with psychotic symptoms will find a community of hope who understand their experience. This book approaches a medical problem with a great sense of humanity. The inclusion of specific topics in each narrative makes this work more than just a collection of biographies. I found the descriptions of interactions with healthcare providers particularly enlightening. Trainees and experienced mental health practitioners could improve their communication with patients by reflecting on the material in persons' stories. I also found myself cheering at the use of models for recovery. Albert Bandura's social learning theory highlights that persons learn best from those who are most like them. I see this regularly in group work with patients with psychotic symptoms. This book could be a tremendous gift for those with chronic symptoms. Patricia E Murphy, PhD (Rush University Medical Centre, USA) - 5 star review for Doody Enterprises, Inc, USA. The stories are diverse, authentic and moving ... this book should be available in waiting rooms throughout mental health services. The book should also be required reading for mental health workers, as an antidote to any tendency to automatically ascribe improvement to treatment. Mike Slade, Institute of Psychiatry, to be published in the International Journal of Social Psychiatry The new national mental health and well-being strategy includes the objective that more people with mental health problems will recover (HM Government, 2011). Over years, my local mental health services (the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust) have developed a Recovery Story project with many service users, and in 2011 they have been recognised as a beacon within the Supporting Recovery initiative, to show the way for other trusts . My recommendation for many other places is that all 14 of these Stories of recovery and hope could help show the way. Woody Caan, Editor, Journal of Public Mental Health.
