EXPLORING HELPER AND CONSUMER PARTNERSHIPS THAT FACILITATE RECOVERY FROM SEVERE MENTAL ILLNESS

iii Judy Alston, Advisor The purpose of this dissertation was to explore the helping partnerships that facilitate recovery from severe mental illness (SMI). Given that recovery from these illnesses was a relatively new concept and that the little research available suggested supportive relationships assist consumers in their recovery process, the research questions were written to understand these helping relationships: (a) what are the consumers ’ experiences of recovery from SMI? (b) How do consumers describe the experience of their helping partnerships that facilitate recovery? (c) What are the underlying themes and contexts that account for the experience of partnerships that facilitate recovery? (d) Where in the recovery do these partnerships form? The co-researchers included 10 non-hospitalized adults with a self-reported diagnosis of schizophrenia (4), bipolar disorder (3) or major depression (3) from a midwestern state. Participants were purposefully chosen from a group of 69 volunteers who completed the Mental Health Recovery Measure (Young & Bullock, 2003), which was the quantitative phase of thi