Family Group Conferencing as a Catalyst for Recovery and Ownership in Mental Health

Abstract

Background. Recovery is a journey not only of personal change but also of social reengagement. It underlines the essence of social environments that are supportive to the recovery of people with ongoing mental health issues. The process of recovery also affects other actors, and likewise these actors exert their influence on the recovery of their family member or friend.

Objective. Since 2009, we have been studying whether the decision-making model called family group conferencing (FGC) helps mental health clients increase their self-reliance. The essence of FGC is that individuals who experience problems have the opportunity to develop a plan together with people from their social network. Clients in mental health have to deal with different forms of disempowerment, especially when they are threatened with compulsory measures. It is an aim to help them regain ownership over their problems as well as over the potential solutions.

Method. From 2011 to 2013, we evaluated 41 family group conferences that were organized for clients in a public mental health care setting in the north of the Netherlands. Each conference was analyzed in a qualitative case study framework.

Results. This article highlights two case portraits. It gives insight into how ownership was restored and what this meant regarding clients’ recovery process.

Conclusion. FGC seems a promising tool to shift the attention from disorders and inabilities to capacities and the rediscovery of social resources.

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Ronald Minnema, Sven Schimmel, Jan van Kammen, and Jelle Timmer (who were all undergraduate students of social work at the Hanze University of Applied Sciences completing their bachelor’s theses in this research project) for their contribution.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflicts of interest were reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The 41 family group conferences were funded by the province and municipality of Groningen, the Netherlands. For our research we received grants from the Dutch Ministry of National Health, Welfare, and Sport (Ministerie van Volksgezondheid Welzijn en Sport), the Netherlands Foundation of Mental Health (Fonds Psychische Gezondheid), and NutsOhra.