Recovery colleges study

A global study has explored the use of recovery colleges in supporting people with mental health problems for the first time. 

Recovery colleges were first developed in England to support the recovery of those with mental health symptoms or mental illness and have been established in many countries – but there has been little research on their staffing, fidelity, or costs. Recovery colleges have two key features – they use an adult education approach to support personal growth, rather than offering clinical treatment, and use 'coproduction' involving people with personal experience of mental health issues alongside staff working together to design and deliver courses.

The survey formed part of the RECOLLECT study (Recovery Colleges Characterisation and Testing) which is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research and is a collaboration between the University of Nottingham, University of Manchester, and King's College London. Researchers found that recovery colleges in different parts of the world have strong similarities, such as their core values, and found some of their key elements were rated differently in different countries – for example, colleges in Asia had a different emphasis on coproduction, which could be due to cultural differences.

The survey, published in The Lancet Psychiatry, found that spending on colleges varied widely, but those that took part in the survey spent a total of £25m providing 20,000 courses for 55,000 students. Mike Slade, Professor of Mental Health Recovery and Social Inclusion (University of Nottingham) said that the first recovery college had opened in England in 2010 and that no research had captured the spread of their unique approach to supporting mental health recovery.

'Our global survey identified that in 2022 there were 221 recovery colleges in 28 countries. This rapid growth is very surprising and indicates that recovery colleges are providing support and opportunities not available in traditional mental health services. We anticipate they will become an increasingly important approach to supporting recovery across the world. RECOLLECT will continue to investigate the operating characteristics, outcomes and costs associated with the 88 Recovery Colleges in England, providing important new scientific evidence to maximise access to their benefits.'

Claire Henderson, Professor of Public Mental Health (King's College London), said that given the rapid spread of recovery colleges, there was a need to understand how they can best support recovery in different contexts. 'There appears to be an international consensus on key operating principles, especially equality and a commitment to recovery, and most recovery colleges achieve moderate to high fidelity to the original model (England), irrespective of the income band of their country. Further research is needed to assess cultural differences in coproduction and approaches to individualising support.'

Find more information about RECOLLECT and 'recovery colleges'.