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Recovery in mental health emphasises the empowerment of clients to discover and develop hope and a more satisfying life often in the presence of ongoing symptoms of mental illness. Work values that are incompatible with values that underpin the recovery philosophy may be contributing to the challenges in implementing recovery values in practice. The purpose of this paper is to explore the types of work values espoused by Australian mental health workers and their degree of congruence with recovery values.

In total, 65 Australian mental health workers completed an open-ended work values question. Leximancer content analysis was used to generate a thematic work values profile followed by a theory-led thematic analysis of the responses to assess congruence with recovery values.

This sample valued client-centred practice that supports recovery, making a difference in others’ lives, work competence, being caring and empathic, and meaningful work. Overall, there was substantial congruence between work and recovery values, with less evidence of endorsement of values relating to strengths-based approaches, personal responsibility, and positive self-identity. These values should be targeted in future training initiatives.

The current study is the first study to identify the types of work values espoused by Australian mental health workers and to examine the degree to which they are recovery-consistent. This is an important research agenda given the high national and international priority to adopt a recovery orientation, and the need to identify and modify potential barriers to the implementation of recovery-oriented services.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate Keyes’ (2007) model of mental health, the presence (flourishing) or absence (languishing) of social, emotional and psychological wellbeing, in the context of drug and alcohol misuse and the frequency and pattern of community participation (engaging in society).

Participants were 1,815 individuals (70 per cent male) who entered residential substance misuse treatment provided by The Salvation Army. Questionnaires were completed at intake assessments with The Salvation Army staff. The data were compared with population norms of community participation utilising t-tests, while multiple linear regression was used to examine continuous mental health.

Although participants have lower levels of community participation compared to Australian population norms, those participants who were experiencing flourishing mental health had higher rates of community participation than Australian norms. Keeping in touch with friends and family was the most common form of participation. Informal social connectedness and civic engagement were the strongest predictors of mental health over and above more traditional substance use outcomes such as cravings.

This is one of the first studies to describe the relationships between community participation, substance use and mental health in participants seeking treatment for substance misuse. Despite having a drug or alcohol addiction requiring treatment, those participants with flourishing mental health have higher levels of community participation than community norms. Furthermore, community participation predicts mental health. This offers promise for interventions that increase community participation but further research using longitudinal designs is needed to replicate and clarify the direction of these relationships.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how a peer mentoring relationship may support provisional psychologists engaged in postgraduate education in Australia. The theoretical lens for this study draws from the real relationship framework and significant events literature.

Quantitative and qualitative data were obtained via a web survey from a sample of 23 mentors and 41 mentees. Participants had engaged in a one-year peer mentoring program on a volunteer basis. The survey contained measures of functions of mentoring, perceived genuineness and realism in the relationship, and overall satisfaction with peer mentoring. Participants also provided accounts of helpful events, hindering events and open feedback.

Perceived satisfaction was significantly correlated with greater genuineness and realism in the relationship. Satisfaction was associated with psychosocial and clinical functions of mentoring for both mentors and mentees, and career functions for mentees only. Qualitative findings indicated that the most helpful events included psychosocial support, mutual understanding and skill development. The most frequent hindering events were logistics/time, lack of structure and mentor technique/activity.

Peer mentors show great promise for supporting provisional psychologists. Recommendations for higher education providers include providing peer mentors with guidance regarding the importance of psychosocial support, clinical skill development and creating genuine and real relationships. Peer mentor training would also benefit from the inclusion of career development strategies and psychoeducation on transference.

This study is the first to apply the real relationship framework and significant events analysis to the psychology peer mentoring context.

The purpose of this paper is to review the role of values within contemporary mental health recovery services, outlining the rationale and approach for a specific values-focused staff intervention to promote autonomously motivated uptake of recovery-oriented practices.

Recent advances in understanding of the enduring gap between ideological and applied acceptance of personal recovery within mental health services are outlined, with particular focus on the limited utility of training programmes as a means to promoting implementation. Frequently, mental health service organisations have adopted recovery policies in a primarily “top-down” fashion standing in contrast to the high autonomy approaches espoused for service users. Drawing from the extensive research related to Self-Determination Theory (SDT), a complementary focus on “bottom-up” approaches that enable service-delivery staff to develop a sense of autonomy for changed work practices in order to increase implementation is indicated.

Application of values-focused interventions for mental health recovery staff parallel to the approaches acknowledged as effective for service participants are likely to be effective in promoting implementation of newly trained recovery-oriented practices.

The paper is conceptual in nature and therefore reflects the priorities and views of the authors but the paper draws together well-established literature to develop a novel approach to a highly relevant issue.

Training transfer and implementation of evidence-based practice are issues with broad relevance and the explication of additional methods to promote employee uptake of new practices is a key priority for organisations and policy makers.

Significant social implications include furthering the discussion and insight to the development of effective delivery of mental health services to individuals accessing service.

A novel aspect of this paper is the provision of a theoretical rationale for the application of SDT as a framework for understanding the continuing challenge of recovery operationalisation, which despite the conceptual good-fit, currently stands as an association not well exploited. Moreover, this paper proposes values-clarification and coaching as a specific and reproducible approach to enhancing recovery-oriented service provision.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships between clinicians’ and managers’ risk aversion and a range of variables related to the implementation of the Collaborative Recovery Model (CRM). Positive risk taking is an integral component of the recovery process. Clinicians’ risk aversion has the potential to negatively impact on their implementation of recovery-oriented practices. The CRM provides an evidence-based framework to assist consumers to participate in the recovery process. However, there is a need for research to clarify the factors related to recovery that have impact on managers’ and clinicians’ risk aversion, and ultimately on implementation of recovery practices.

A cross-sectional survey assessed clinicians’ (n=174) and managers’ (n=48) risk aversion and their self-reported learning experiences, commitment to using CRM, goal setting attitudes and CRM implementation behaviour.

Clinicians who reported more risk aversion were significantly more likely to report positive attitudes towards goal setting. Stepwise regression revealed that training experiences, goal setting attitudes and commitment to CRM significantly predicted an increase in CRM implementation. Over and above this, risk aversion predicted a small but significant increase in the self-reported use of CRM. Managers experienced significantly less risk aversion than clinicians, with a negative relationship between risk aversion and commitment to CRM principles.

This paper suggests that clinicians’ risk aversion impacts upon their implementation of the CRM, with managers less risk averse than clinicians.

Longer length of stay (LOS) in residential alcohol and other drug treatment has been associated with more favourable outcomes, but the optimal duration has yet to be determined for reliable change indices. Optimal durations are likely to be a function of participant and problem characteristics. The purpose of this paper is to determine whether LOS in a residential therapeutic community for alcohol and other drug treatment community independently predicts reliable change across a range of psychological recovery and well-being measures.

In total, 380 clients from Australian Salvation Army residential alcohol and other drug treatment facilities were assessed at intake and three months post-discharge using the Addiction Severity Index 5th ed., The Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale, The Recovery Assessment Scale, the Mental Health Continuum-Short Form and The Life Engagement Test.

The findings confirm LOS as an independent predictor of reliable change on measures of well-being and client perceived assessment of recovery. The mean LOS that differentiated reliable change from no improvement was 37.37 days.

The finding of LOS as a predictor of reliable change and the identification of an estimated time requirement may be useful for residential drug treatment providers in modifying treatment durations.

WE offer our readers good wishes for 1939. We hope that every kind of library may be allowed in peace to pursue its development for the spreading of good reading, to the end that enlightenment and with it wisdom may prevail amongst our millions of readers. We hope too that it will be another year of progress in service, in good and deftly‐employed technique, in the development of the will to make libraries interesting, attractive, useful and indeed inevitable and essential to all men. For librarians we hope it may be a further stage in the promotion of their profession, of growth of their own faith in it, and of increase in the willingness of those who employ librarians in municipalities, counties, colleges and other places to recognize training and service with better pay, prospects and status. We know that appreciation will not give greater willingness to serve; we do know it will give greater happiness.

OUR readers will, we trust, appreciate our double souvenir number issued in connection with the Library Association Conference at Glasgow. Special features are the articles on the Mitchell Library, Glasgow, 1874–1924, by a member of the staff, Mr. J. Dunlop, and one on the Burns Country, by Mr. J. M. Leighton, of Greenock Public Library. We printed the provisional programme in our July issue and as we go to press have little to add to the particulars there given, except to compliment the Library Association and the Local Reception Committee on the excellent programme arranged for the occasion, from both the professional and social point of view.