Recovery colleges aim to break free from the clinician-patient power dynamic commonly found in traditional models of therapeutic care for mental illness, and approach recovery employing an adult-learning ethos embedded within a co-production framework.

Through this process, the individual is not viewed as a patient to be cured, but a student who works together with facilitators in a classroom setting to learn about themselves, others, mental illness and approaches to recovery.

Recovery colleges operate in a similar way to regular colleges, offering diverse courses through an enrolment platform, in which students can contribute to the development of future courses via a key process of recovery colleges: co-production.

AHA was appointed to conduct a literature review of recovery colleges to inform the development of a recovery college model for Western Australia.

This review includes peer-reviewed literature, grey literature and evaluative reports from existing recovery college models being implemented in Australia and overseas.

The review will draw upon local and international literature to inform the development of the first recovery colleges in Western Australia and assess the current WA Recovery College Business Model and Plan to ensure it is consistent with current Recovery College practices and guidelines.