Researchers at Lancaster University’s Spectrum Centre have worked with people living with a diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder to develop an innovative set of multi-media tools to measure and enhance personal recovery tailored to the individual.

About one in every 100 adults experiences Bipolar Disorder with the majority of people developing this condition in adolescence.

Recovery focused therapy employs evidence-based psychological approaches to enable people to take charge of their personal recovery focused on their own ambitions, goals, skills and strengths

A new suite of e-tools (animation, lived experience videos and e booklet) are now available to raise awareness of this personal recovery in Bipolar Disorder which were launched before an audience of people with lived experience, NHS mental health professionals and the Third Sector at The Storey in Lancaster.

Several people with Bipolar Disorder described the importance of a personalised approach to their recovery in the e-booklet:

‘My choices were my own, and sticking with them, and working towards them kept me full of hope, and I have reached many of my own goals by not giving up.”

“I systematically thought through my life, looked at home life, and dealt with what I could do that day.”

The programme of research leading to this new resource, led by Professor Steven Jones, included researchers who have a personal experience of Bipolar Disorder like Chris Lodge who said:

“A personal recovery approach involves clinical teams genuinely seeing the service user as the manager of their own care and trusting them to make important decisions in relation to this.”

He stressed that personal recovery therapy is about supporting the individual on a journey towards feeling more confident to engage in activities and relationships that have personal meaning

“There is much evidence that with the right support people can live full, productive and contributing lives alongside their mood experiences.”

The team interviewed people with Bipolar Disorder at all stages from late adolescence to older adults to gain insights into their experience of personal recovery.

Key features of personal recovery that people with Bipolar describe include:

• a sense of autonomy so they can choose how much support they receive

• a model or story to frame their experiences which makes sense to the individual

• seeing recovery as a journey rather than a destination

• engaging in interests and activities that have personal meaning and value.

The Spectrum team will work with the audience to explore the full range of opportunities for use of these e-tools Attendees will be invited to maintain contact with the Spectrum centre to feedback on use of the e-tools in practice. People will be able to access the resource after the launch, via the Spectrum Centre Website http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/shm/research/spectrum/