Reality of Recovery in Personality Disorder

Dr Heather Castillo worked for many years in Mind organisations in Essex, developing advocacy for people with mental health problems. She has worked with service users, training and supporting them to become legitimate researchers in the field of mental health. In 2004 she helped to set up, and became the Chief Executive of The Haven Project, which began as a Department of Health National Innovation Site for the support and treatment of personality disorder. In 2011 she completed a doctorate at Anglia Ruskin University, UK, about the process of recovery in personality disorder. She lives in Essex, UK.

• Dedication. Acknowledgements. 1. The Journey Begins. 2. Prevailing Knowledge Relevant to the Journey. 2.1. Mental Health Law. 2.2. The Prevalence and Impact of Personality Disorder. 2.3. What is Personality Disorder. 2.4. The Medical Model and the Concept of Cure. 2.5. Psychological Perspectives and Treatments. 2.6. What is Recovery? 3. The Journey Continues. 3.1. Linking with the National Agenda. 3.2. First Days at The Haven. 3.3. Service Context for our new Study. 3.4. Rationale for the new Study. 4. The Research Journey. 4.1. The Research Group Begins. 4.2. Research Questions. 4.3. Philosophical Approach. 4.4. The Participative Dimension. 4.5. Methods used in the research. 4.6. Collecting the Data. 4.7. Who was involved? 4.8. Ethical Issues. 4.9. Data Analysis. 5. Discoveries on the Journey of Recovery. 5.1. Background Information and Demographics. 5.2. Use of Services and Cost-savings. 5.3. Findings from the Questions to Research Participants. 5.4. Mapping the Process of Recovery. 6. Analysis of the Journey of Recovery. 6.1. Attachment and trust. 6.2. Creating a Culture of Warmth. 6.3. What it means to belong. 6.4. Love is not enough. 6.5. Recreating health attachment and opening the door to therapeutic work. 6.6. Hope and its relationship to recovery. 6.7. Identity and Roles. 6.8. Recovery and maintaining healthy attachment. 7. A Journey of Organizational Change. 7.1. The Nature of The Haven. 7.2. Learning Organizations. 7.3. The Structure of the Haven. 7.4. Cycles of Change. 7.5. Implementing Change. 7.6. A Need for Change Which Clients Found Hard to Articulate. 7.7. Rewarding Positive Progress. 7.8. Outdoor Wellbeing. 7.8. Shared Power and Participatory Action. 8. Four Journeys. 8.1. Getting out: by EJ. 8.2. Include me in: By 'Joseph Brown'. 8.3. Getting grounded: By 'Helen price'. 8.4. Moving on: By 'Rachael Seagrove'. 8.5. My perspective as a service user researcher: by Dee Graham. 9. Does the Journey Ever End? 9.1. Risk and Trust. 9.2. To work or not to work. 9.3. What happened next at The Haven? 9.4. A political backdrop to developments. 9.5. The wheel has come full circle. Appendix I. Research Timeline. Appendix II. Research Group Diary 2004-2009. Appendix III. SEG (Service Evaluation Group) Questions. Appendix IV. Client Focus Group Questions. Appendix V. Client Interview Questionnaire. Appendix VI. Carer Focus Group Questions. Appendix VII. Findings from Client Questions. Appendix VIII Findings from Family and Carer questions. Appendix IX. Service Savings Analysis 2006 and 2013. References.

Heather Castillo has been a pioneer in the provision of support and treatment for people living with personality disorder. She understands that the process of recovery must be user led; and the voices of people with personality disorder need to be respected and heard. In this fascinating book, she describes the journey she made as a service developer and leader, and the empirical evaluation process: one which involved service users from the start. I wholeheartedly recommend this book to professionals who are developing services for people with personality disorder, and for those who have an interest in the qualitative research methods in mental health.