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The purpose of this paper is to review the available evidence regarding the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of Recovery Colleges. To make suggestions for future research.

Selective review of relevant published studies, including reports in the “grey” literature.

Despite methodological limitations, it has been consistently found that attendance at Recovery Colleges is perceived to be useful and to help people progress towards their recovery goals. There is some evidence of reductions in service use (and therefore costs). In addition, there is evidence of beneficial effects for peer trainers and possible positive impact on staff attitudes.

The existing research highlights the need for further robust studies, using both qualitative and quantitative methods, to understand better the overall impact of Recovery Colleges and the underlying mechanisms of change.

There is a need for further studies of the relationship between the “key defining features” and outcomes. This means the collection and pooling of systematic, “practice-based” evidence.

The introduction of an explicitly recovery educational (“learning”) model into mainstream mental health services seems to have a profound effect on reducing the power differences inherent in traditional professional/patient relationships. If this can be replicated across organisations it could facilitate the kind of fundamental cultural change necessary to give back recovery to the people who have always owned it.

The information collected together in this paper is already publicly available, however it is difficult to find. The analysis and interpretation is original.

This paper aims to describe the working of one of the first Recovery Colleges (RCs) and explore the defining characteristics.

This study explores the ways in which an educational approach contributes to the process of recovery as observed in the Nottingham Recovery College (NRC). A mixed-method research design was adopted, combining interviews, observation and visual methods as well as analysis of quantitative data. The process contributed to the continuing development of “fidelity criteria”, or defining principles and key features, of the college.

The NRC demonstrates the possibilities of offering an alternative approach within mental health services; one which is educationally rather than therapeutically informed. The design and operation of the college is informed by educational principles in the creation and execution of the curriculum. This is critically developed through processes of co-production and co-facilitation by those with professional and lived experience, supported by policy development, rigorous documentation and the creation of a supportive, but challenging culture and environment. Students are offered very real opportunities for involvement, progression and leadership within and beyond the college.

Whilst building on work on education in self-management, the RCs move beyond the transmission of information to create new relationships between mental health professionals and students (rather than “service users”) – and through this, the relationship between students and their “condition” appears to be transformed. Early evidence suggests the NRC also provides a model of interaction that is distinct in educational terms.

There is significant interest nationally and internationally in the development and operation of RCs in England. RCs present a possibility of transformation in the lives of people with long-term mental health conditions, with outcomes such as greater confidence and hope for the future in addition to widening social networks and providing opportunities for progression. They are also important in the implementation of Recovery through organisational change and the remodelling of commissioning arrangements.

This is the first paper to be presented for publication specifically on the NRC. There is currently little published research on RCs. These are unique (and varying) organisations which are creating considerable interest nationally and internationally. An exploration of their defining characteristics will feed into subsequent larger-scale research.

The purpose of this paper is to explore what affects attendance at Recovery College, what students who have missed classes perceive to be the barriers to attendance and suggestions for improvement.

Survey of 16 students who have missed Recovery College classes.

The most common reasons for non-attendance were personal factors associated with physical illness; competing commitments or life events; and worries about other students and anxiety. Recovery College factors included inconvenient location, time or date of the course and poor communication from the college. Students found individual learning plans (ILPs) helpful and that they improved attendance. Recommendations are made to improve attendance through clearer information and communication; ILPs, text reminders before classes and phone calls from tutors if students miss classes.

Many services are looking at how to become more cost effective – improving attendance is one such way. This paper offers an analysis of barriers to attendance and makes recommendations about how attendance can be improved.

The Recovery College model is an innovative approach to providing education to consumers, carers and mental health staff, with the potential to facilitate both personal recovery gains and organisational transformation towards recovery-focused service provision. The purpose of this paper is to explore the experiences of students who attended the South Eastern Sydney Recovery College (SESRC).

An exploratory, descriptive qualitative design was employed with data collected through seven focus group interviews with consumers and mental health staff who had participated in courses run by the SESRC. Thematic analysis of the data was conducted using both deductive and inductive processes in order to interpret the data.

All participants were positive about their involvement in the RC. Four themes emerged from the thematic analysis: connection with others, hope for the future, the importance of the lived experience, and changing attitudes and systems.

The outcomes of this study indicate that the SESRC is achieving its aims in relation to both personal recovery gains, and the potential to impact on service transformation. It highlights the centrality of co-production as a fundamental aspect of the Recovery College model. This paper contributes to the emerging evidence base for this model and provides evidence that this model is applicable to the Australian context.

The purpose of this paper is to delve into three themes about democratic enterprises.

(1) The first theme is the question of capital structure where labor-managed firms (LMFs) are often pictured as having “horizon problem.” Yet this is only a minor technical problem which is solved by the system of internal capital accounts as in the Mondragon cooperatives.

(2) The second theme concerns the attempt to implement participative management and the related ideas of active learning in educational theory in the workplace. The point is that the democratic firm is the natural setting to implement these ideas, not the conventional firm where the staff have the legal role of “employees” rented by the company.

(3) The third theme is the old canard the cooperatives are incompatible with entrepreneurship. My rethinking of the issue was inspired by the analysis of the late Jane Jacobs who emphasized that the primary means of growing economic “biomass” is through economic offspring (e.g., spin-offs) – in analogy with the biological principle of plentitude. Yet the conventional form of ownership operates as a fetter on this process since the ownership and management wants to expand its empire and maintain “ownership” of any potential offspring. But that constraint against spin-offs is absent in democratic firms, and the Mondragon complex has indeed illustrated how to catalyze this process of growth through offspring.

A public policy to encourage all companies to grow by affiliated and perhaps democratic spin-offs would create more jobs (through filling extra niches) and more stability (through the agility of separate companies).

Using the backdrop of an (apparently) extended visit to the West Indies, analogies with key concerns of internal audit are drawn. An unusual and refreshing way of exploring the main themes ‐ a discussion between Bill and Jack on tour in the islands ‐ forms the debate. Explores the concepts of control, necessary procedures, fraud and corruption, supporting systems, creativity and chaos, and building a corporate control facility.

Using the backdrop of an (apparently) extended visit to the West Indies, analogies with key concerns of internal audit are drawn. An unusual and refreshing way of exploring the main themes ‐ a discussion between Bill and Jack on tour in the islands ‐ forms the debate. Explores the concepts of control, necessary procedures, fraud and corruption, supporting systems, creativity and chaos, and building a corporate control facility.

There is a growing interest on how critical perspectives can help us understand family businesses. Current literature suggests that critical reflection is needed in aspects such as conflict, fear, and emotions. In this chapter, we argue that the use of a critical perspective illuminates the intricate complexities of family business behavior and that a critical discussion around fear, which is conceptualized as both an inhibitor and a motivator for business, plays a significant role in the dark side of family business. To advance understanding, we review recent conversations that can help us understand better the role of fear; how does this impact on resilience? And, how do feelings and emotions impact family firms? In our review, we argue that perspectives that focus on specific tangible resources (e.g. financial) are limited to explain how families in business may deal with fear. A critical perspective suggests that three areas merit further attention: fear of failure, effects of failure, and the intersection between entrepreneurial learning and the effects of fear in the dark side of family businesses. By contextualizing critical approaches, we provide insight for researchers, policymakers, and those operating family businesses alike.

The George Washington University organizational behavior students have been privileged to learn from professors who were students of three different founders of the field. The three strands discussed here are Roethlisberger and the Harvard Business School, Kurt Lewin and NTL, and Herzberg. This learning experience is very different from introductory textbooks, which give the impression that the field has made consistent, linear progress from the early days until today. The enriched experience includes a sense of the false starts, values conflicts, egos, lack of cross‐communication, and other dimensions of the human condition that played a role in the founding of OB&D. This article reviews the development of these strands and points out that, although there are similarities, they were working on different problems, using different data sources, with different units of analysis. The article concludes with a glimpse at how these three founders would view the field of OB&D today.

The future beckons … a new millennium …