Recovery and public policy : driving the strategy by raising political awareness

In both Scotland and England, recovery has emerged as a key concept in public policy and has informed the national strategies in each country. This high-level commitment has provided a major opportunity for the establishment of "recovery-oriented systems of care" in each country but with differences in both the content of the policy and in the mechanisms for implementation. This article discusses questions around implementation and the issue of time scales, with implications for changing cultures and practices in provider agencies and commissioning practices at a local level. Much of this debate concerns attempts to operationalize "recovery" at an individual level and to create meaningful measures of recovery process and outcome. The overview and discussion component will review the challenges faced in attempting to translate recovery policy at a national level into meaningful systems at a local level and the likely impact this will have on individuals and communities attempting to initiate their own recovery journeys.