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This Web site is a component of the SAMHSA Health Information Network.

Evidence-Based Practices: Shaping Mental Health Services Toward Recovery

Illness Management and Recovery

Information for People Who Have Experienced Psychiatric Symptoms

What is the Illness Management and Recovery Program?

The Illness Management and Recovery Program is a series of weekly sessions in which a specially trained mental health practitioner will help you develop your own personal strategies for coping with mental illness and moving forward in your life. The program can be provided in an individual or group format, and generally lasts between 3 to 6 months.

What are the goals of the Illness Management and Recovery Program?

• Learning about mental illness and strategies for treatment
• Decreasing symptoms
• Reducing relapses and rehospitalizations
• Making progress toward your goals and toward recovery

What is provided in the Illness Management and Recovery Program?

• You will receive educational handouts, planning sheets, and checklists.
• A practitioner will help you to apply the contents of the handouts to develop your own strategies for managing mental illness and setting and achieving goals.
• You will have opportunities to practice your personalized strategies in the sessions and in your every day life.

What will you learn in the Illness Management and Recovery Program?

The following subjects are covered in educational handouts:

1. Recovery strategies
2. Practical facts about mental illness
3. The stress-vulnerability model and treatment strategies
4. Building social support
5. Reducing relapses
6. Using medication effectively
7. Coping with stress
8. Coping with problems and symptoms
9. Getting your needs met in the mental health system

What is the role of family members and other supporters in this program?

With your permission, family members and other supporters may be involved in reading the educational handouts, attending some sessions, and helping you develop and implement plans for coping with symptoms, reducing relapses and pursuing recovery goals.

For more information

To find out more about the Illness Management and Recovery program visit our website: www.mentalhealthpractices.org or contact your local community mental health center.

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