In the last 10 years the concept of recovery has entered the discussion on mental health. Since then it has been surrounded in debate - from advocates who suggest that there is a need to build mental health services on recovery principles, to people who suggest that there is insufficient 'empirical' evidence to support a reorientation of services. The focus of this article is on exploring the concept of recovery as both a process and an approach to care.

Central to a recovery oriented service is the involvement of service users and families in the design and delivery of services. EOLAS is one potential model for achieving this aim.

The EOLAS programmes offer a novel template for communication and information sharing in a way that embodies the principles of collaboration and offers users and families a meaningful opportunity to become involved in service design, delivery and evaluation.

Objectives: This study evaluated the impact of a one-day mental health Wellness Workshop on participants’ mental health and attitudes towards mental health. Design: Convergent, longitudinal mixed-methods approach. Setting: The study evaluated Wellness Workshops which took place throughout the Republic of Ireland. Method: Questionnaires measuring hope, mental health self-efficacy, attitudes towards mental health and perceived impact on wellbeing were administered to participants before the workshop ( n = 415), 1 week after ( n = 221) and 3 months after ( n = 110). Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 24 participants to generate a more in-depth understanding of the impact of the workshop. Results: Quantitative findings relating to hope, mental health self-efficacy and attitudes towards mental health did not identify statistically significant changes; however, participants’ perceptions of the effect of the workshop on wellbeing suggested a positive impact which was maintained over time. Qualitative findings, however, suggested that hope and self-efficacy were improved and the simplicity and utility of the wellness strategies disseminated in the workshop, in addition to the warmth and openness of the narrative approach used by the facilitators, were central to the perceived positive impact. Conclusion: This evaluation demonstrates the potential for wellness interventions to have a subjective improvement in wellbeing in members of the general public.

Health policy is increasingly advocating for involvement of service users and family members in service development. In the present study, we evaluated the impact of a 4-day education programme in co-facilitation skills on clinician and peer (service users and family members) knowledge, confidence, and subsequent experience as co-facilitators. The programme was designed to train peers and clinicians as co-facilitators on a clinician and peer-led information programme for people experiencing mental health problems. The study employed a mixed-methods design involving a pre-post survey with 128 participants, and follow-up qualitative interviews with a sample of 17 participants. To examine changes in levels of knowledge and confidence in facilitating from time 1 (T1) to time 2 (T2), paired sample t-tests were conducted, and thematic analysis was conducted on the interviews. The programme had a statistically-significant positive impact on participants' knowledge, confidence, and skills, with no significant difference between the facilitator groups (i.e. service user, family member, and clinician) in terms of their improvement at the end of the training, indicating that all groups benefited equally from the training. A majority of participants reported a high level of preparedness as co-facilitators and an open and respectful approach towards each other's expertise, and many continued to gain skills and develop their confidence as they co-facilitated the 8-week EOLAS programme ('eolas' is the Irish word for knowledge). The findings also provide evidence of the acceptability and feasibility of the programme, and appears to be the first detailed study reported on a programme of this nature.