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The purpose of this paper is to consider the process of working with a Lived Experience Advisory Group (LEAP) and its outcomes in REFOCUS, a large five-year programme of recovery research.

Narrative reflections on the experience of working with LEAP were collected from five members and the chair of LEAP, two REFOCUS researchers and the principal investigator. These were synthesised to show both the process and outcomes of LEAP involvement in REFOCUS, and how involvement evolved organically over time.

Individual reflective accounts showed how working with LEAP impacted (to a greater or lesser extent) on each individual involved in the process, providing new insights and influencing, to varying degrees, the way in which they then worked with LEAP. Synthesis of the reflections showed how these changes impacted organically on LEAP’s process of involvement, with a shift in LEAP’s role from being purely consultative/advisory towards one which was much more about co-production, with LEAP pro-actively contributing to some aspects of REFOCUS in the later stages of the study.

The authors stress the importance of considering process as well as outcomes in patient and public involvement, and make practical recommendations for improving both in future programmes of research.

This is the first empirical evaluation of user and carer involvement and its development during a large recovery research programme.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a profile of Paul Makin.

In this case study, part of the Remarkable Lives series, Paul gives a short account of his background and is then interviewed by Jerome.

Paul talks about his recovery from alcohol addiction, then a period of complete wellness, until he developed a psychosis. He talks about how unbearable his admission was to an acute unit.

Every single story in the Remarkable Lives series teaches us something different about mental health problems. Paul’s story is no exception.

We need to think how we can make the admission process to hospital as peaceful and positive as we can. This is easier said than done.

Paul suggests they need to get more recovery stories out there to the general public, so they can see it is possible to make a recovery from mental health problems.

I am not sure I have come across many people like Paul. He battled for many years with an alcohol addiction, which he managed to overcome. He then slowly developed a psychotic illness, which led to an acute admission. The process of recovery has now started a second time.

The development of the recovery approach must mean a fundamental change in how mental health services see service users, for as the Social Perspectives Network paper rhetorically asks, ‘Whose Recovery is it?’, it is, of course, the service users' (Social Perspectives Network, 2007). The recent influential Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health report, suggests that professionals need to move from a position of ‘being on top, to being on tap’ (Shepherd et al, 2008). Service users need to take a more central role in the whole recovery debate. One of the ways that this aim can be realised is by looking at ‘recovery heroes’. These are individuals whose journey of recovery can inspire both other service users and professionals alike.

Margaret's story concludes our short series on recovery heroes. This series started with Dolly Sen, followed by Peter Chadwick, Gordon McManus and Matt Ward. Four of the five people featured were from our local service at South London and Maudsley NHS Trust. We have defined recovery heroes as individuals whose journeys of recovery can inspire both service users and professionals alike. Margaret once commented that, ‘all service users are recovery heroes’. It is fitting that the series should end with her own story.

The purpose of this paper is to review the 16 published non-student Recovery Heroes and Remarkable Lives accounts published in Mental Health and Social Inclusion, using the connection, hope, identity, meaning and empowerment (CHIME) framework.

All 16 accounts were rated independently by four researchers and evaluated in terms of whether each account met the five criteria for the CHIME model.

All accounts met the criteria for the CHIME model, with the exception of one, which still met four of the five criteria. Evidence was presented which suggests that the model can be extended to creativity, connectedness, hope, identity, meaning and empowerment (C-CHIME), to incorporate creativity.

While a certain level of subjectivity is required in deciding how each account meets the CHIME criteria, there were high levels of inter-rater reliability within the research team. Creativity had a central place in all the accounts.

The revised C-CHIME model can be used by practitioners to examine accounts of recovery in a more focussed manner and may also help in devising recovery action plans.

The recovery model privileges both professional and lived experience perspectives on recovery. The current review highlights how much we can benefit from the wisdom contained in first person accounts.

This review adds to the existing literature and highlights the importance of creativity for mental health recovery.