ABSTRACT
Recovery-oriented care (ROC) is an approach that has been introduced into mental health services in order to explicitly support individual recovery. This chapter provides a critical overview of literature exploring how understandings of ROC and risk management practice are represented in mental health policy and research and how they are enacted in day-to-day practice. The concept of individual recovery first emerged in the National Service Framework for Mental Health through its emphasis on information, empowerment, partnership, community-based care, family support and health promotion. Mental health policies advocating a recovery-oriented approach in mental health care provision focus on a perceived need to create a more optimistic and positive approach to care for those who use mental health services. More consistent approaches to assessment and management of risk were introduced into the Care Programme Approach (CPA) in the mid-1990s. The CPA was first introduced in 1990 as a framework to plan personalized care for mental health service users.
