I've just spent the last week working with a group of staff as we planned for our new recovery service (starting today). Some of the staff are new to Restore, some have worked with us for years, some have professional qualifications, some have practical experience, some are carers, some people who've used services. All of them impressed me with their combination of enthusiasm and willingness to learn. I learnt a lot during the course of the week and I'm filled with hope for our new recovery groups.

I learn best by being forced to put into words my views. For me one of the things that the training helped me articulate and thing about was the journey that mental health services, and mental health professionals, are on. This is the move from doing this TO people, to doing things FOR people, to doing things WITH people, to people doing things BY themselves. This spectrum helps thinking about working in recovery and in enabling people to reclaim personal autonomy. All health services sit somewhere on this spectrum and no point is - necessarily - bad. However recovery focused services need to sit firmly at the with & by end of the spectrum and resist the pull to doing things for people.

One of the characteristics of people who work in the helping professions is that we like to help - doing things for people is a constant temptation. It feels good, people like it, and thank us. It's quick, it's rewarding, and it's even sometimes needed; but, like any comfort food, it's not good for people long term. We need to recognise the pull of the "for" and try and move towards enabling people to control their own support.