How do you become a recovery companion in psychiatry?

Mr. Dr. Hardt, what requirements do recovery companions have to meet in order to work at your clinic?

We don’t want to look at a recovery companion like just another patient. Recovery companions are, first of all, colleagues like everyone else. Of course, you should be free of any symptoms of illness that could affect your work. Ideally, as part of an EX-IN training, they should have reflected on their own crisis experiences and developed an understanding of their role as recovery companions. They should also be able to handle difficult conversations with patients and the turbulent everyday life on the ward. At the same time, of course, we cannot be blind to individual stress limits, especially in this professional group.

How do you protect these people from overload?

In addition to the regular supervision for our treatment teams, there is our own supervision group led by a senior doctor for those accompanying them in recovery, which serves to exchange experiences and reflect. In discussions, we also agree with the recovery companions how we want to proceed if they become mentally worse.

How do the other employees see the recovery support in the treatment team?

In fact, there were major reservations about the new concept, especially in the area of ​​care. The employees were skeptical about who would come to their ward now. Now, after more than ten years of experience, many people see how valuable their work is and that the entire team benefits from it. The mere presence of a recovery companion at a conference where patients are being discussed changes the way professionals there talk to each other. I know this from myself: people pay much more attention to the choice of words. Our attitude towards our patients is changing through the changed way we speak, but also through the collaboration with recovery companions.

To what extent?

Some of the staff now have the experience: “There is someone who has felt the same way as the patients here on the ward. I like him, he says clever things and helps us with the treatment.” Realizing that we now have someone on the treatment team who has experienced illness and treatment themselves and speaks openly about it changes how we think about our patients. Recovery companions normalize mental illness

. And to be honest: We don’t know how many of our employees in other professional groups were or are mentally ill. Now there are people in the team whose name tag says recovery companion, which is how they “come out” and who bring up their illness as a matter of course. I am full of admiration for that.

Have there been any critical moments?

Of course, there are sometimes difficult situations with recovery companions. We have experienced someone becoming seriously ill again while on the job. There are professionals who say: “You could have thought of it.” This is where prejudices arise. Yes, people recovering can become ill again. But that happens in all professional groups. Rather, I see the potential of the new employees.

Which is that?

I always found it illuminating when, at the end of a successful treatment, a patient answered the question “What helped you the most?” not the individual psychotherapeutic discussions, but the conversations with other patients. This shows that exchanges between people who share a crisis experience can be very helpful. Recovery companions expand the skills of a treatment team with their special wealth of experience. The experience of one’s own illness is not only a ballast, but it also brings with it a benefit – and the recovery companions show this with their work.

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