SLaM Recovery Charter

You can download our charter here.

Vision: To reduce illness and promote social inclusion – “to keep people in their lives”including supporting them when they choose to change their lives

Recovery Principles:

1. Recovery is something the individual defines and experiences. A mental health service cannot make someone recover, though it can support the process. The primary aim of SLAM in its work with service users is to support them in their recovery.

2. Care planning will be based on the goals and priorities of the service user. SLAM will support each service user in making choices about their own life, within the limits imposed by statutory requirements.

3. Hope (a desire accompanied by confident expectation) is a key element of recovery. Staff will promote hope in their work with service users and their carers, recognising that recovery takes time and can involve set-backs. SLAM recognise that staff need to have adequate resources and to feel hopeful about their own jobs if they are to promote hope in others.

Vision: To offer the people we serve the best mental health services possible

Recovery principles:

4. Culture, ethnicity, sexuality, spirituality, relationships and lifestyle (e.g. exercise, diet) are important elements of many people’s recovery. SLAM will value and actively support these elements.

5. Medication is an element of many (though not all) people’s recovery. Other important elements are psychological and social interventions. SLAM will provide access to competent psychological and social interventions as comprehensively as to medication.

Vision: To implement, rapidly and systematically, improvements in care based on evidence of the best that is possible

Recovery principles:

6. Support from peers, family, friends and mental health professionals can be essential for recovery. SLAM will recognise the essential role and expertise of family and friends, and will foster the development of peer support groups.

7. Stigma and discrimination inhibit recovery. SLAM will engage with external agencies and organisations to ensure that the rights and interests of service users are protected.

Vision: To attain the highest standards in the management and professional leadership of mental health services

Recovery principles:

8. SLAM will develop risk management systems which recognise the tension between types of risk which are to be avoided (e.g. of harm to self or others) and types of risk which are essential for growth and recovery (e.g. of trying something new). These
systems will foster defensible decision-making in relation to risk.

9. SLAM will ensure that its documentation and language encourage recovery-focussed and empowering practice, rather than dependency-inducing practice. This will include communication with other agencies, SLAM policies and procedures, and information given to people using our services.

Vision: To go beyond the limits of health services to promote mental well-being in our local communities

Recovery principles:

10. People who use mental health services are members of local communities and should be viewed within this context.

11. Having social roles beyond the ‘illness’ role and access to meaningful activities (whether paid, voluntary, educational or leisure) both contribute to the development of a positive identity. SLAM will promote social inclusion, access to community resources and activities, and develop supportive pathways to meaningful employment and financial stability.

12. SLAM is committed not only to addressing mental illness but also to promoting mental wellbeing for people who experience mental health issues.