“Who Believes Most in Me and in My Recovery”: The Importance of Families for Persons With Serious Mental Illness Living in Structured Community Housing

Abstract

In this article, the authors report on qualitative findings on the role of family in supporting recovery for mental health consumers living in structured, community housing in a large Canadian city. Despite living separately from families and relying heavily on formal services, residents identified their families more often than mental health professionals, friends, and residential caregivers as those who most believe in them and their recovery. Families supported recovery by providing affection and belonging, offering emotional and instrumental support, and by staying actively involved with residents. Families are a vital, untapped resource for social workers in promoting independent living.

KEYWORDS:

• community housing
• mental health
• qualitative research
• recovery
• rehabilitation
• serious mental illness

Notes

^a Multiple responses were allowed, yielding a total of 62 responses for 39 participants.

Findings presented in this article are part of a larger study funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Project #81110.

As one transcript was unintelligible, the results include data for 39 participants.

Family members included members of the immediate family of origin: parents and siblings. One grandfather was identified as the mainstay of the family.