Reprinted from the Recovery: Living Your Bestish Life issue of Visions Journal, 2022, 18 (1), p. 4
The word “recovery,” for many people, is associated with recovery from substance use. We often don’t hear about recovery from mental illnesses like anxiety disorders, depression, schizophrenia, etc. Recovery is often seen as a one-time affair where a person never looks back because they’ve recovered for good. Anyone who struggles with mental illness or substance use can tell you that recovery is not that easy or straight-forward. For many people, recovery is an active process: one that is both daily and life-long.
In this issue, you’ll find a wide variety of perspectives on recovery from both people with lived experience of mental health and substance use concerns as well as service providers. You’ll hear from Dr. Mahesh Menon, our Guest Editor, on different types of recovery and the importance of having compassion for yourself. You’ll read about *John’s experience managing sobriety and how it affected his experiences at work. Stephanie Wilson from the Canadian Mental Health Association, BC Division, has some tips for you on how to discern safe and reliable evidence-based health information when you’re looking for help. And you’ll read several other perspectives about immigrant mental health, living through postpartum depression, recovery from eating disorders, and more. You’ll also get a glimpse into our next issue, “Growing Up In A Digital World.”
If there’s one thing in this issue that our contributors make clear, it’s that recovery is different for everyone. It is a process that works best when catered to your individual needs and done in a supportive environment. If you are in recovery, or have a loved one in your life you are supporting, I hope this issue helps you know that you are not alone. There are people out there with similar experiences and others who want to help.
We called this issue “Living Your Bestish Life” because, in recovery, things aren’t always perfect. There may be setbacks along your journey. And that’s completely okay. I’d love to hear your feedback on this edition of Visions. Feel free to write to me any time at visions@heretohelp.bc.ca.
About the author
Kamal Arora is Visions Editor and Leader of Health Promotion and Education at the Canadian Mental Health Association’s BC Division
