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Recovery Colleges are an innovative approach which adopt an educational paradigm and use clinician and lived experience to support students with their personal recovery. They demonstrate recovery-orientated practice and their transformative role has been evidenced within mental health services. The purpose of this study is to explore how past students understand the influence of the Recovery College on their on-going recovery journey.

An exploratory, qualitative design was used and semi-structured interviews took place with 15 participants. Data was analysed using the “framework method” and inductive processes.

All participants discussed gains made following Recovery College attendance that were sustained at one year follow-up. Three themes emerged from the data: Ethos of recovery and equality; Springboard to opportunities; and Intrapersonal changes.

This research explores students’ experiences a year after attendance. This contrasts to most research which is completed immediately post course. This study contributes to the emergent evidence base highlighting the longitudinal positive impact of Recovery Colleges. This study is of value to those interested in recovery-oriented models within mental health. Recovery Colleges are gaining traction nationally and internationally and this research highlights processes underlying this intervention which is of importance to those developing new Recovery Colleges.

The purpose of this paper is to explore whether one Recovery College reflects its community.

Recovery College students’ demographics and protected characteristics were compared with the general population and the population of people using local mental health services.

Recovery College students were representative of the local community in terms of ethnicity, religion or belief and sexual orientation. Fewer Recovery College students were over 60 years old or men.

Recovery Colleges may be more accessible to people who are often under-served and under-represented in mainstream mental health services, including people from BAME backgrounds and people who identify as LGBT. Recovery Colleges may need to engage more men and more older people. Recovery Colleges aim to be inclusive and open to all but need to ensure that this is a reality in practice.

This is the first study to explore who accesses Recovery Colleges and whether they are inclusive and open to all.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a preliminary outline of the international presence, commonality and differences between Recovery Colleges.

This study used a short e-mailed survey to create a map of Recovery Colleges internationally and review Recovery Colleges outside the UK. Questions gathered descriptive and qualitative data to gain an overview of the mode of delivery and aspects respondents felt were noteworthy.

This paper identifies Recovery Colleges in 22 countries in five continents (including the UK). Participants described wide variance in their context. Despite adaptations, the operational models and inherent principles of each were closely aligned to those developed in the UK.

This paper provides the first baseline of Recovery Colleges on an international scale. It provides evidence of a high degree of commonality despite variance in setting and highlights the internationally valued transformational power of this model.

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.

Building on ideas that have been discussed in recent issues of A life in the day, Sara Meddings and Samantha Pardi describe a small project which has not only enabled people to gain access to education, but achieved this within already existing resources.

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.

The purpose of this paper is to explore Recovery College from a student perspective and consider what contributes to making Recovery College effective.

The authors draw on interviews with students, course feedback forms, a detailed narrative of one of the authors’ experiences as a student and the authors’ own reflections.

Students’ experience is that Recovery College is effective because of the social relational factors, learning from other students and the collaborative co-production approach; the educational approach learning skills and knowledge, and choice and progression to personal goals.

This paper explores key aspects of Recovery College from a student perspective, informing the authors about possible components to their effectiveness.

This inspiring article describes a series of activities that have taken place in the UK over the past year (2001) aiming to generate interest in user/survivor/consumer‐run social enterprises. The writers want to let others know about these activities, about the survivor‐run businesses in Ontario, and hopefully to create more interest in this type of work/community initiative. As editor of this journal I hope that the article will provoke those of you already running user/survivor‐led businesses in the UK to rise to the challenge and write about your work for future issues. Can't let the Canadians have things all their own way… Bob Grove.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the process of using a co-production partnership approach in the development of a Recovery College pilot.

This is a case study of the co-production process, using action research to learn from ongoing reflection, mid-project review and feedback questionnaires.

The partnership process is an integral and valued aspect of the Recovery College. Challenges include different organisational cultures and processes and the additional time required. Mutual respect, appreciation of different expertise, communication, a shared vision and development plan have been key to success. The paper focused on governance and fidelity; recruitment and training; curriculum development and evaluation. People are enthusiastic and motivated. Co-production and equal partnership are a valuable approach to developing a Recovery College.

At present many regions are developing Recovery Colleges. This paper describes one approach and shows that co-production is valuable to the process of developing a Recovery College.

This paper aims to explore why a course with similar content feels different when delivered in a Recovery College as compared to an NHS therapy.

It is offered as a case study based on reflections from several perspectives.

This novel approach emphasises predictable factors such as the educational and recovery focussed environment. It also contributes further to thinking around how relationships are differently navigated and developed in Recovery Colleges compared to NHS settings.

The reflections are offered to act as a stimulus to promote wider conversations about how Recovery Colleges effect change, with an emphasis on comparing how relationships and power are influenced for those involved. This paper considers this in relation to the Mechanisms of Action identified in Toney et al., 2018 paper.