About PRCH

The Program for Recovery and Community Health (PRCH) is part of the Department of Psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine. We conduct research, training, evaluation, and policy development in the areas of recovery from serious mental illness, substance use, citizenship, social inclusion, and health disparities and equity. PRCH was founded in 1999 by a group of social scientists, clinical and community-based providers, educators, community organizers, and people in recovery who had become dissatisfied with the then-current state of mental health and addiction services, the limitations services placed on individuals' chances for recovery, and the disparities in care based on ethnicity and culture.

Consistent with the suggestion of John L. McKnight, we believe, "Revolutions begin when people who are defined as problems achieve the power to redefine the problem." We take the central task of our work to be involving people living with addictions and mental illnesses in redefining their challenges in their own terms. Rather than viewing these individuals as problems to be addressed through the intervention of others, we view people as experts on the problems and difficulties posed by mental illness and addiction, and, consequently, as foremost experts on identifying solutions to these same problems.

Recovery-oriented practices promote each person’s/family’s vision of recovery as they define it. For some, this may involve clinical recovery and the reduction or resolution of mental health symptoms and challenges. For others, recovery may mean reclaiming valued social roles, building meaningful relationships, participating in the of their community, or maintaining control over important decisions that impact their lives and experience in care.

The content and process of our work is grounded in our Guiding Principles on Resilience and Recovery. Consistent with these principles, we take an equity-minded approach to recovery-oriented care which recognizes that even the most progressive treatment systems exist within a social context where people of color and other historically marginalized groups often experience—both individually and collectively—an additional layer of trauma that has devastating consequences on their health and well-being.

PRCH offers training and consultations, research and evaluation, and tool and resource development to support the implementation of recovery-oriented, equity-focused practices across the behavioral workforce—at the local, regional, national, and international levels. Specific areas of expertise include, but are not limited to:

• Diverse strategies to promote community inclusion and citizenship among people living with serious mental illness
• Equity-minded, recovery-oriented systems transformation
• Peer support and lived experience leadership
• Person and family-centered care planning
• Shared decision-making

A central aspect of recovery-oriented systems of care is the inclusion of people with lived experience at all levels of partnership–from service users, families, and direct peer support service providers to clinicians, managers, and administrators. In all our activities, we honor and promote those with lived experience.

We seek to create and pursue a vision for a dramatically different future in which the "outdated science, outmoded financing, and unspoken discrimination" that far too often characterizes behavioral health care is replaced by hope-filled, equity-focused, recovery-oriented services and supports that enable people to reclaim their lives as valuable and contributing members of their communities.

For more information on our programs and services, or to discuss a curated training or consultation package for your agency, organization, or community, contact us.